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Secretary of State John Kerry listened to his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle, at the State Department on Friday.
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: May 31, 2013
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday strongly criticized Russia’s pledge to sell advanced antiaircraft weapons to Syria, suggesting that along with the growing involvement of Iran and Hezbollah in the fighting, the sale threatened to disrupt efforts to negotiate a political settlement and could destabilize the region.
Russia’s confirmation this week that it planned to sell S-300 missiles to Syria — and President Bashar al-Assad’s defiant boasts on Thursday about Russian arms aimed at Israel — have added a dangerous new dimension to the civil war in Syria. They have also complicated efforts to organize an international conference in Geneva in the hope of ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Syrians.
Mr. Kerry’s remarks, his sharpest criticism of Russia since taking office in February, signaled a growing frustration with its continuing support for Mr. Assad’s government, including the delivery of various types of weaponry as part of what the Russians have said are longstanding arms contracts. He said the missiles in particular threatened regional stability because of the threat they would pose to Israel, which has all but said it would respond militarily to stop the shipments.
“Whether it’s an old contract or not, it has a profoundly negative impact on the balance of interests and the stability of the region, and it does put Israel at risk,” Mr. Kerry said at the State Department. “It is not, in our judgment, responsible because of the size of the weapon, the nature of the weapon and what it does to the region in terms of Israel’s security.”
Mr. Kerry, appearing with Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, suggested that Russia’s continued support of Mr. Assad’s government called into question its commitment to the political process that he and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, proposed in Moscow on May 7.
“We will learn very quickly whether or not they and others are acting in good faith” to negotiate a settlement, Mr. Kerry said in remarks that also criticized Hezbollah and Iran for intervening directly in the fighting on Mr. Assad’s behalf. “If they’re not, the world will know it.”
The prospects for a conference, originally intended to be held in June in Geneva, appear to have waned as Mr. Assad’s government has grown more assertive and members of the Syrian opposition have balked, saying they would attend only if Syrian forces ended the fierce fighting under way in Qusayr, a strategically important town near the Lebanese border.
Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Lebanese militant organization that both the United States and Israel regard as a terrorist group, has sent hundreds of fighters into Syria to assist Mr. Assad’s forces, particularly in Qusayr. Hundreds of wounded civilians have been reported to be trapped in the town, which has been under intensifying assault by Syrian government troops and their Hezbollah allies.
On Friday, the interim leader of the Syrian Coalition, the main umbrella opposition group, said about 1,000 insurgent reinforcements had broken through military lines and joined their colleagues in Qusayr.
The interim leader, George Sabra, also announced at a meeting in Istanbul that the Syrian Coalition had agreed to expand by adding 43 members of the Free Syrian Army, the principal insurgent force, which had threatened to repudiate the group if it was not given a greater role.
The Syrian Coalition remains beset by internal squabbling, regarded by its Western and Arab backers as a major weakness in achieving a unified position aimed at ending the war. The United States and other Western countries have also been pressuring the group to be more inclusive and to distance itself from radical Sunni jihadi fighters who have been entering Syria to fight Mr. Assad’s forces.
Al Nusra Front, a Qaeda affiliate that is one of the most successful Syrian insurgent groups, was added on Friday to a global sanctions blacklist by the United Nations Security Council. The classification means the group is subject to an arms embargo and a freeze on its assets.
Mr. Kerry said that he had not lost hope that the divided opposition leaders would unite and send a representative to talks with Mr. Assad’s government.
“I’m not going to discuss consequences with respect to the opposition not coming, because I’m convinced the opposition is going to come,” he said. “And I understand their passionate anger and frustration with the massacre that has been taking place on the ground coming from Hezbollah that has crossed a border from Lebanon and entered into another country and from Iranian forces that are on the ground.”
The German foreign minister, Mr. Westerwelle, also criticized Russia’s delivery of weapons, saying Germany had also raised the issue with the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. “The delivery of weapons to the Assad regime is totally wrong,” he said.
Russia has been equally critical of arms sales to Mr. Assad’s armed opponents by countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei A. Ryabkov, this week defended its sale as a legitimate contribution to Syria’s ability to defend itself against foreign military intervention, which appears to be Russia’s primary concern in the conflict.
Mr. Ryabkov also sharply criticized the European Union’s failure to renew an arms embargo that has until now prevented governments there from sending any weapons to Syria. Mr. Westerwelle emphasized that while that ban would expire effective June 1, none of the European governments had made a decision to provide any in order to give the negotiations in Geneva “a realistic chance.”
Despite Mr. Assad’s opaque remarks that suggested he had received some parts of the most advanced Russian weapons, Russia has not yet shipped any of the S-300 missiles, according to Israeli officials.
Israel, though, has publicly warned against the sale of the missiles, whose range would permit Syria to strike deeper inside Israel, and its officials have made it clear privately that they would take action to ensure they are not delivered and readied for use. Israel has already struck Syria at least three times this year, targeting what officials have described as missiles and other weapons shipments to Hezbollah, whose members are now openly fighting in Syria.
On May 14, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel flew to the Black Sea resort in Sochi, Russia, favored by Mr. Putin to raise concerns about the missiles but, the officials said, apparently failed to persuade him to cancel the sale. The State Department’s spokeswoman, Jennifer R. Psaki, said on Friday that the United States fully supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon; Neil MacFarquhar from the United Nations; and Rick Gladstone from New York.
A version of this article appeared in print on June 1, 2013, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Kerry Rebukes Russia for Its Sale of Antiaircraft Missiles to Syria.
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