DefenceTalkArab nations have offered to help pay for any US military intervention in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers Wednesday as he sought support for missile strikes. “With respect to Arab countries offering to bear the cost and to assist, the answer is profoundly yes, they have. That offer is on the table,” […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-tells-us-it-needs-un-approval-for-syria-strike-48960/

DefenceTalkWashington is weighing expanding support for Syrian rebels by having the Pentagon take charge of arming the opposition instead of a clandestine effort by the CIA, officials said Wednesday. “It’s under consideration,” said a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “If and how (it would be done) are both questions being discussed,” the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-may-take-charge-of-arming-syrian-rebels-us-officials-48958/

DefenceTalkMilitary action against the Syrian regime would be a “tragic mistake”, Russia said Sunday, warning the West not to preempt the results of a UN probe into alleged deadly chemical attacks. Moscow warned there was a danger of history repeating itself a decade after the US-led invasion of Iraq, which it opposed, and urged the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-warns-us-against-syria-military-action-48875/

DefenceTalkUN Security Council members are seeking “clarity” on opposition claims that Syrian troops used chemical weapons in an attack near Damascus, Argentina’s UN envoy, the council president, said Wednesday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s office said earlier he was “shocked” by the reports and that UN weapons experts in Syria to probe previous allegations were […]https://www.defencetalk.com/un-council-seeks-clarity-on-syria-chem-weapons-claim-48846/

DefenceTalkAlgeria’s army has reinforced its forces along the eastern border with Tunisia, Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said on Thursday, days after the killing of eight Tunisian soldiers. The soldiers were found on Monday with their throats cut after being ambushed by jihadist militants in Mount Chaambi, an area near the border with Algeria. Algeria’s […]https://www.defencetalk.com/algeria-army-boosts-forces-on-tunisia-border-minister-48662/

DefenceTalkThe European Union’s decision to lift its arms embargo on the Syrian opposition has provided Russia with a new defence of its controversial weapons deliveries to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Russia reacted with fury to the EU’s decision Monday — advocated primarily by Britain and France — to lift its arms embargo on the rebels […]https://www.defencetalk.com/eu-embargo-move-boosts-russia-plan-to-arm-syria-47961/