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(Jason Reed/ Reuters ) - Secretary of State John F. Kerry prepares to board his aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington on Saturday. Kerry is heading to the Middle East for the next week.
CAPTION By Karen DeYoung and Bob Woodward, Persian Gulf countries, led by Saudi Arabia, are moving to strengthen their military support for Syrian rebels and develop policy options independent from the United States in the wake of what they see as a failure of U.S. leadership following President Obama’s decision not to launch airstrikes against Syria, according to senior gulf officials.
Although the Saudis and others in the region have been supplying weapons to the rebels since the fighting in Syria began more than two years ago and have cooperated with a slow-starting CIA operation to train and arm the opposition, officials said they have largely given up on the United States as the leader and coordinator of their efforts.
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Instead, the Saudis plan to expand training facilities they operate in Jordan and increase the firepower of arms sent to rebel groups that are fighting extremist elements among them even as they battle the Syrian government, according to gulf officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve comity with the United States.
What officials described as a parallel operation independent of U.S. efforts is being discussed by the Saudis with other countries in the region, according to officials from several governments that have been involved in the talks.
Unhappiness over Syria is only one element of what officials said are varying degrees of disenchantment in the region with much of the administration’s Middle East policy, including its nuclear negotiations with Iran and criticism of Egypt’s new government.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry arrives in Saudi Arabia on Sunday on a hastily arranged visit — to include his first-ever meeting with King Abdullah on Monday — that is designed to smooth increasingly frayed U.S. relations with the kingdom.
Kerry will also stop in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Israel, all of which have expressed concerned at what they see as a weakened U.S. posture in the region. The 11-day trip also includes visits to the West Bank, Poland, Algeria and Morocco.
Egyptian state media reported Friday that Kerry will begin his trip with a brief stop Sunday in Egypt, his first visit there since the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi this summer. The State Department declined to confirm the visit.
Officials in several countries that had pledged to support a U.S. strike on Syrian targets after confirmation that President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons described their stunned reaction to Obama’s abrupt decision in late August to cancel the operation just days before its planned launch so he could ask for congressional agreement.
“We agreed to everything that we were asked .?.?. as part of what was going to take place,” said a senior Saudi official reached by telephone in the kingdom. Instead of the 10-to-12-hour warning before launch that the Americans had promised, the official said that Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan “did not know about [the cancellation]. .?.?. We found out about it from CNN.”
Although the current policy differences are unlikely to be resolved soon, if at all, the Saudis derive part of their standing as a regional leader from their close ties to Washington. Kerry’s visit, in large part, is designed to publicly stroke that aspect of the Saudi image.
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Stick Figures and Stunted Growth as Warring Syria Goes Hungry http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/world/middleeast/stick-figures-and-stunted-growth-as-warring-syria-goes-hungry.html?pagewanted=all Stick Figures and Stunted Growth as Warring Syria Goes HungryAcross Syria, a country that long prided itself on providing affordable food to its people, efforts to ensure basic sustenance appear to be failing, and millions are going hungry. @ahauslohner
Good piece on Afghanistan's surge in drug addiction by the Twitter-less Azam Ahmed in the @nytimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/world/asia/that-other-big-afghan-crisis-the-growing-army-of-addicts.html?pagewanted=all That Other Big Afghan Crisis, the Growing Army of AddictsA new report underscores a growing crisis in the city of Herat: one in every five households contains at least one drug user. @ksieff
Not a done deal, and his reception was distinctly frosty MT @MaxHigh32: 'U.S. to boost military aid to Iraq' http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-us-iraq-20131102,0,2045101.story U.S. to boost military aid to IraqWASHINGTON — Facing a deadly resurgence of Al Qaeda in Iraq, President Obama signaled Friday that he would begin increasing U.S. military support for Baghdad after five years of reducing it. @LizSly Not a done deal, and his reception was distinctly frosty MT @MaxHigh32: 'U.S. to boost military aid to Iraq' latimes.com/world/la-fg-us… @LizSly Maliki shunned in DC: no extra help against Al Qaeda. And Iraqis will continue to get blown up, as usual http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/02/opinion/can-iraq-be-saved.html Can Iraq Be Saved?After creating disorder in his country, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki suddenly wants more American help. @LizSly BREAKING: UN envoy Brahimi has succeeded in uniting the Syrian regime & opposition. Both agree he must step down http://t.co/cfz5UiSzpN” ” @LizSly All Maliki got from his shopping trip to Washington was some extra openings for Iraqi students in the US http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/01/joint-statement-united-states-america-and-republic-iraq WhiteHouse.gov is the official web site for the White House and President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. This site is a source for information about the President, White House news and policies, White House history, and the federal government. @LizSly All Maliki got from his shopping trip to Washington was some extra openings for Iraqi students in the US m.whitehouse.gov/the-press-offi… @LizSly
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