10 things you need to know today: June 13, 2012

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the World Food Prize ceremony held in Washington on June 12: Clinton says that Russia is supplying the Syrian regime with attack helicopters a

(Image credit: Fang Zhe/Xinhua Press/CORBIS)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. CLINTON: RUSSIA SENDING SYRIA ATTACK HELICOPTERS

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Obama administration has received information that Russia is providing attack helicopters to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, and that Russia's worrisome actions "will escalate the conflict quite dramatically." In recent months, Russia, with which Syria has long had a military relationship, has continued to ship arms to Syria, claiming that what it is shipping is not being used to quash the uprising. On Monday, Clinton called such claims "patently untrue." Russia, along with China, has repeatedly blocked attempts by the U.N. Security Council to formally condemn the Syrian regime. Clinton expressed her fears soon after a top U.N. peacekeeping official called the Syrian conflict a "civil war," the first time the international body has deemed it as such. [Guardian]

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