Syrian government forces have fired Scud missiles at insurgents in recent days, escalating the 2-year-old conflict against rebels seeking to overthrow the regime, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, two officials said forces of President Bashar Assad have fired the missiles from the Damascus area into northern Syria. These officials asked not to be named because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
News of the missiles came on the same day that more than 100 countries, including the United States, recognized a new Syrian opposition coalition. That has further isolated Assad's regime and opened a way for greater humanitarian assistance to the forces battling to oust him.
One official said there was no indication that chemical weapons were aboard the missiles. Officials have said over the past week that they feared rebel advances were prompting Assad to consider using chemical weapons.
This official estimated that the number of Scuds fired was more than a half dozen, confirming details first reported by The New York Times.
By: Brant
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I suspect that these are being fired at captured military bases--the Syrian government has established a pattern of bombing them soon after capture to prevent the rebels from gaining too much hardware and ammunition. Given that the weather is getting cloudier (and the Syrian AF can't safely operate at low altitudes due to the MANPADS and AAA threat), and that the SyAAF is overstretched too, that would explain the use of SCUDs now.
They're also very inaccurate, which suggests this is also a sign of desperation.
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