The Syrian Air Force is again firing Scud missiles, this time to stem the general offensive Syrian opposition forces, including jihadis, launched Friday, Dec. 21, to capture the Syrian army’s military-industrial complex at al Safira and the big chemical and biological weapons store adjoining the facility. It is there, that Scud D missiles stand ready for launching, loaded with chemical weapons.
Rebel forces are converging on Al Safira from the east, the west and the south. Among them are brigades of the Jabhat al-Nusra which the US has designated part of al Qaeda in Iraq.
DEBKAfile military sources report extremely heavy fighting. The rebels have reached points 1-2 kilometers from the perimeter walls of the Al Safira chemical weapons stores and are being pounded by Syrian warplanes and assault helicopters as well as Scuds, in a desperate effort to halt their advance.
Success in seizing control of those stores would re-tilt the balance of the war in their favor and bring President Bashar Assad face to face with a decision on whether to broach the perilous dimension of chemical warfare on the rebels or even against NATO or US targets outside Syria.
A prime factor in his decision would be the information received in Moscow and Tehran – and almost certainly passed on to the Syrian ruler – that taking part in the offensive are rebels who underwent training in recent weeks in northern Jordan by US, Czech and Polish officers in tactics for seizing chemical or biological caches and dismantling them.
Russian and Iranian intelligence watchers suspect that elements from all three armies as well as Jordan are present in the rebel assault force, in order to be on the spot when the weapons of mass destruction are captured and appropriate them to forces under NATO command.  They must beat Jabhat al-Nusra’s fighting brigades to this target, although at this moment, the jihadis are ahead of the race.
The battle for al Safira has brought US and NATO into direct intervention in Syrian hostilities. Western intelligence services estimate that even if Assad removed some of the banned weapons from this complex, large quantities remain and must be prevented from reaching the wrong hands.

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http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/20/jordan-warns-against-continued-arming-of-jihadist-rebels-in-syria/

Jordan Warns Against Continued Arming of Jihadist Rebels in Syria

Fears Rebels Will Attack Israel, Jordan Next

by Jason Ditz, December 20, 2012
In Sunni-dominated nations, the sectarian nature of the Syrian Civil War has meant almost universal endorsement of the Sunni rebels. This is not the case in Jordan, however, where top officials in the Hashemite Kingdom are increasingly disquieted by the Salafist nature of the rebellion.
Officials are publicly warning against continuing to send advanced weapons to the Syrian rebels, saying that the region risks becoming a “black hole that sucks Jihadists from around the world,” and fearing that they won’t stop with Syria.
Indeed, rebel leaders have been openly talking about the expansion of the war beyond Syria, with many hoping to move onto Israel next. Jordanian officials say their nation could also be targeted.
With the GCC arming the rebels for months now, and NATO nations looking to get in on the arms shipments as well, the concern is very real that what may remain in post-war Syria is a bunch of heavily armed rebels with a lot of axes to grind across the region.

and......

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/20/anti-nato-protests-held-in-turkey-as-troops-deploy-on-syrian-border/

Anti-NATO Protests Held in Turkey as Troops Deploy on Syrian Border

Across Political Spectrum, Demonstrators Fear NATO Deployment Means War

by Jason Ditz, December 20, 2012
Hundreds of US soldiers have arrived already, with another 400 German soldiers expected to arrive in the coming weeks, and more troops from across NATO are also planning deployments on the Turkish border with Syria, at the behest of the Turkish government. All told this will mean thousands of troops on the border.
Turkish officials seem really pleased with this, but across the political spectrum, Turkish citizens are extremely opposed to the deployment, fearing NATO will turn Turkey into a “battlefield.”
From the north to the south, and all points in between, protests are being staged. Organizers of all political stripes, from the nationalists and the Communists to Kurdish opposition parties and even the centrist parties. It is rare for these groups to agree on much of anything, but they all seem pretty sure that NATO’s presence is trouble.
No one sees Syria as a serious threat to Turkey, a much larger nation with a much bigger and more modern military. Rather, it is the fear that NATO will quickly muck up the rebellion and turn the war region that is the big concern, particularly after the Libyan War spilled over so dramatically into places like Mali.