The U.S., U.K. and Canada expressed support this week for sending arms to rebel groups battling Syrian President Bashar Assad, opening a diplomatic chasm with Russia during a meeting of leading industrial nations known as the G-8. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a stalwart supporter of Assad, sharply criticized the decision, casting the rebels as
G-8 Summit: Plan To Arm Syrian Rebels Opens Rift Between Russia, Western Powers
Russia’s President Putin, a close ally of embattled Syria’s Assad, used gruesome language to describe the action of Sunni rebels.