Video: Russia defends weapons sales, says US arming rebels

>>> syria. russia 's foreign minister today defended his country's sale of arms to syria and accused supplying weap ons to the rebels to fight against the government. senator hillary clinton doubled down on her accusation saying that russia is sending a new shipment of attack helicopters to syria .

>> obviously, we note because they confirm that they continue to deliver, and we believe that the situation is spiraling toward civil war . and i would emphasize that the united states has provided no military support to the syrian opposition. none.

>> nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel joins us live from cairo. we heard secretary clinton say spiraling towards civil war . there are others who say it is a civil war . at the daily briefing, the is press secretary reiterating the words that the u.s. is not supplying weapons to the opposition and the administration's position is clear on that, richard.

>> the united states isn't supplying weapons like guns and helicopters. but it is supplying communications equipment that the opposition in syria is using to coordinate attacks. so to a degree, it depends 0 how you define weapons. there are other countries namely saudi arabia and qatar that are supplying weapons to a degree with u.s. and turkish blessing. other countries making their own decisions. russia , however, is supplying helicopters and there have been many videos and this is indisputable showing russian-made helicopters firing into syrian cities killing civilians. so one russian says it's supplying helicopters only to be used for peaceful purposes, well those are not being used for peaceful purposes.

>> as i mentioned also in addition to that, russia 's foreign minister which is a big part of the back and forthing is replying to the accusations by saying that the u.s. is supplying the rebels. so i guess i'm asking you, what should we be looking for next here. these comments were made while the russian foreign minister was in iran.

>> well, i think what you want -- what the united states is trying to do is embarrass russia to try and push them into a corner to make it difficult for russia to continue being one of the only states in the world that is continuing to back the bashar al assad regime by showing that it is directly supplying what is becoming one of the most important weapons for syria right now, which is helicopters. throughout this 15-month conflict, it has been mostly a ground war with syria using artillery, using thanks to invade different cities and towns to try and push out the rebels. but as logistics get more complicated for the syrian government as it runs out of loyal troops, it is increasingly relying on helicopters and helicopters are a cheap and fast and efficient way to create an enormous amount of casualties especially when you're just firing from the air noor civilian centers.

>> and quickly, richard, there's reporting of, again, more attacks, including in damascus . what can you tell us about this latest report out today?

>> there are now regularly attacks in damascus . we've been told there are different fire fights in three areas from damascus . there have been intense fighting in the town of haifa closer to the turkish border. a few days ago, the united states was warning syrian troops had been encircling firing onto the town. now troops have entered the city sending rebels into retreat and having about 2,000 refugees according to turkish officials crossing over the boarder from syria and taking refuge . turkey. there are now 30,000 syrian refugees in turkey alone.

>> richard engel with the latest on what's happening in syria . thank you very much. a

matt bomer westminster kennel club dog show jeremy lin game winner chocolate covered strawberries shrimp scampi kate upton si cover lobster recipes