Syria: Barack Obama

Barack Obama: Obama has repeatedly said the use of chemical weapons would cross a "red line" triggering greater American intervention in the two-year crisis. Key players in Syria's civil war History of Syria's political tensions How Syria's war is reshaping the Middle East, according to CBC. "This is going to be different in both scope and scale in terms of what we are providing," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser and U.S. President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, U.S. officials said Thursday, after the White House disclosed that the United States has conclusive evidence Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government has used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him. Sen. John McCain, one of the strongest proponents of U.S. military action in Syria, said he was told Thursday that Obama had decided to "arm the rebels", a decision confirmed by three U.S. officials. However, the officials cautioned that no decisions had been made on the specific type of weaponry or when it would reach the Syrian rebels, who are under increasing assault from Assad's forces. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.