A U.S. Senate panel voted on May 21 to provide weapons to rebels battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad -- the first time lawmakers have endorsed the aggressive U.S. military step of arming the opposition in the two-year-old Syrian civil war -- the Creeping Sharia website reports today (May 23, 2013).
With much caution, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 15-3 for a bill that would provide lethal assistance and military training to rebel groups in Syria, and would slap sanctions on any nation that sells oil or transfers arms to the Assad regime such as Iran and Russia.
The measure also establishes a $250 million fund to aid in the transition if and when Assad is overthrown.
Only three senators opposed the legislation: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a potential presidential candidate in 2016, and Democratic Sens. Tom Udall of New Mexico and Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
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