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The White House has announced today that President Barack Obama has approved for the first time a direct military aid to the Syrian opposition.

President Barack Obama made the decision after his administration concluded Syrian forces under President Bashar al-Assad were using chemical weapons, a spokesman said.

Ben Rhodes did not give details about the military aid other than to say it would be “different in scope and scale to what we have provided before”.

Russia said the US claims on Syria’s chemical weapons use were unconvincing.

Yury Ushakov, a senior aide to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters that Washington had provided Moscow with its evidence, but “what was presented…. does not look convincing to us”.

The US announcement is one that the Syrian opposition has been pushing and praying for months.

It seems clear that President Barack Obama has finally been persuaded, as Britain and France have argued, that the battlefield cannot be allowed to tilt strongly in the regime’s favor, as is currently happening.

Washington’s “clear” statement was welcomed by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who urged Syria to let the UN “investigate all reports of chemical weapons use”.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK agreed with Washington’s assessment and said an urgent response to the Syria crisis would be discussed at the G8 this week.

But a spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told said that he remained against “any further militarization” of the conflict in Syria, saying the people there need peace not more weapons.

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Barack Obama, said the US intelligence community believed the “Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times over the last year”.

He said intelligence officials had a “high confidence” in their assessment, and also estimated that 100 to 150 people had died from chemical weapons attacks, “however, casualty data is likely incomplete”.

“We have consistently said the use of chemical weapons violates international norms and crosses red lines that have existed in the international community for decades,” Ben Rhodes said.

President Barack Obama has approved for the first time a direct military aid to the Syrian opposition

President Barack Obama has approved for the first time a direct military aid to the Syrian opposition

Ben Rhodes said President Barack Obama had made the decision to increase assistance, including “military support”, to the Supreme Military Council (SMC) and Syrian Opposition Coalition.

He did not give details of the aid, but administration officials have been quoted by US media as saying it will most likely include sending small arms and ammunition.

The New York Times quoted US officials as saying that Washington could provide anti-tank weapons.

Syria’s rebels have been calling for both anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington is also considering a no-fly zone inside Syria, possibly near the border with Jordan, that would protect refugees and rebels who are training there.

When asked whether Barack Obama would back a no-fly zone over Syria, Ben Rhodes said one would not make a “huge difference” on the ground – and would be costly.

He said further actions would be taken “on our own timeline.”

The CIA is expected to co-ordinate delivery of the military equipment and train the rebel soldiers in how to use it.

Until now, the US has limited its help to rebel forces by providing rations and medical supplies.

Ben Rhodes said the White House hoped the increased support would bolster the effectiveness and legitimacy of both the political and military arms of Syria’s rebels, and said the US was “comfortable” working with SMC chief Gen Salim Idris.

“It’s been important to work through them while aiming to isolate some of the more extremist elements of the opposition, such as al-Nusra,” he said.

The US decision marks a significant escalation of the proxy war that has been gathering pace in Syria, our Beirut correspondent says.

The support of the West’s regional allies, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, had helped the rebels in the days after the uprising became militarized.

But the tide turned after the Assad government turned to Moscow and Tehran for help. Hezbollah fighters have also been involved in the government’s counter-offensive.

Now the West is lining up to try and help the rebels, but that is likely to take many months with more bloodshed and destruction.

The White House announcement immediately shook up the ongoing debate in Washington DC over how the US might provide assistance to the rebels.

Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who have been particularly strident in their calls for military aid, said the finding must change US policy in Syria. They called for further action, saying US credibility was on the line.

“A decision to provide lethal assistance, especially ammunition and heavy weapons, to opposition forces in Syria is long overdue, and we hope the president will take this urgently needed step,” they said in a joint statement.

“But providing arms alone is not sufficient. The president must rally an international coalition to take military actions to degrade Assad’s ability to use airpower and ballistic missiles and to move and resupply his forces around the battlefield by air.”

The White House announcement came on the same day the UN said the number of those killed in the Syrian conflict had risen to more than 93,000 people.

A UN report released on Thursday found at least 5,000 people have been dying in Syria every month since last July, with 30,000 killed since November.

More than 80% of those killed were men, but the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it has also documented the deaths of more than 1,700 children under the age of 10.

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Armed forces in UK are on standby to provide an additional 3,500 troops to help with security at the 2012 London Olympics.

It comes amid fears that private contractor G4S would not be able to provide enough trained staff in time.

The armed forces were already providing some 13,500 personnel – this could now reach 17,000, meaning summer leave for some troops will likely be cancelled.

G4S said it had “some issues in relation to workforce supply”.

The company is being paid £300 million ($480 million) to guard the Games, but it has not been able to guarantee it can supply the 10,000 guards it has been contracted to deliver.

A G4S spokeswoman said the company had accepted “that the government has decided to overlay additional resources.”

She added: “This has been an unprecedented and very complex security recruitment, training and deployment exercise which has been carried out to a tight timescale.

“We have encountered some issues in relation to workforce supply and scheduling over the last couple of weeks, but are resolving these every day and remain committed to providing a security workforce for the start of the London 2012 Games.”

Armed forces in UK are on standby to provide an additional 3,500 troops to help with security at the 2012 London Olympics

Armed forces in UK are on standby to provide an additional 3,500 troops to help with security at the 2012 London Olympics

The armed forces were already due to provide some 13,500 personnel to help at the Games, with more available as a contingency plan.

Whitehall sources are keen to stress that there is no impact on security at the Games.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will announce more details about the extra troops on Thursday, the Home Office said.

In a statement, it said: “We have agreed to offer help to G4S by revising the level of military support.”

It added the government and all involved were focused on delivering a “safe and secure Games”.

“Our approach is intelligence-led and risk-based, and we retain the ability to be flexible in our response.

“The government are committing £553 million for venue security and we remain confident that we will deliver within budget.”

Labour’s shadow Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell MP, said there was “clearly a serious problem”.

“With two weeks to go to the start of the Games, it is imperative that action is taken to ensure that the full and necessary quota of security personnel are in place so that the Games will be safe and secure,” she said.

“We need to know why the problem has emerged so late in the day and precisely what has been agreed to.

“We also must know whether this affects Army commitments elsewhere, which units are providing people and what terms and conditions are given for those who will likely lose periods of leave.”

She added that – in the spirit of the cross-party approach to the Games – it was “essential that the Opposition is kept fully informed of these events as they develop”.

G4S said its planning with organizing committee LOCOG and other security agencies allowed for “a variety of contingencies which have been reviewed in the build-up to the Games.”

A spokesman for the London mayor, Boris Johnson, said: “The mayor takes the issue of Olympics security extremely seriously, and having the finest and bravest service men and woman in the world at our disposal during the Games should be a source of great comfort.”

The government has previously said a total security force of 23,700 will take care of venue security, including the G4S contingent.

G4S will have overall control of Olympic venue security, working alongside unarmed troops, searching and checking people going into the stadiums and other venues.

Olympic sites number more than 30 sporting venues and more than 70 “non-competition venues” including car parks and hotels.