US facilitating arms flow to Syrian rebels

US Coordinating Influx of Arms to Syrian Rebels: US Paper

Local Editor

Despite Obama administration’s repeated denials of supplying Syrian terrorists with weapons, The Washington Post revealed Wednesday that those terrorists have begun receiving significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, “an effort paid for by Persian Gulf Arab nations and coordinated by the United States."

The newspaper was quoting “opposition” activists and U.S. and foreign officials who said that the administration “has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure.”

"We are increasing our nonlethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, and we continue to coordinate our efforts with friends and allies in the region and beyond in order to have the biggest impact on what we are collectively doing," a senior State Department official told the Post on condition of anonymity.

The US administration's move to increase contact with the rebels, and boosting information sharing with Gulf states who back them, is a shift in policy that up until now has resisted overt support for the armed groups battling President Bashar Assad forces, the Post said.

“Opposition activists who two months ago said the rebels were running out of ammunition said this week that the flow of weapons has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other gulf states to provide millions of dollars in funding each month,” it said.

Terrorists, under the cover of the so-called opposition, have been staging attacks in Syria killing and wounding many civilians across the country.

Source: Newspapers
16-05-2012 - 12:44 Last updated 16-05-2012 - 13:16

US facilitating arms flow to Syrian rebels

Published Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Gulf states are sending more weapons to Syrian rebels battling President Bashar Assad's regime with coordinated assistance from the United States, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Obama administration officials denied the claims accusing the United States of supplying or funding lethal material, which includes antitank weapons, the report said.

Instead, they claimed that the administration had expanded contacts with armed rebels to provide the Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure, the Post said.

"We are increasing our non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, and we continue to coordinate our efforts with friends and allies in the region and beyond in order to have the biggest impact on what we are collectively doing," said a senior State Department official.

Material is being stockpiled in Damascus, in Idlib near the Turkish border and in Zabadani on the Lebanese border, according to the Post.

Opposition activists who two months ago said the rebels were running out of ammunition reported this week that the flow of weapons — most still bought on the black market — has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other autocratic Gulf states to provide monthly funding amounting to millions of dollars.

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood – based in Turkey – also said it has opened a supply channel to the rebels, using resources from wealthy individuals and money from Gulf states, primarily Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

FSA fighters posing after destroying a carrier on the outskirts of Rastan,

on 14 May 2012. (Photo: AFP - HO - Shaam News Network)

The effect of the new arms appeared evident in Monday's clash between opposition and government forces over control of the rebel-held city of Rastan, near Homs. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel forces who overran a government base had killed 23 Syrian soldiers.

The Sunni-led Gulf states, which is aiming to turn Syria into a proxy war against regional rival Iran, welcome such assistance but would like a more formal approach.

"Various people are hoping that the US will step up its efforts to undermine or confront the Syrian regime," the Gulf official said. "We want them to get rid of Assad.''

Several internal opposition groups have previously warned against Saudi and Qatari involvement in Syria, which would likely undermine the uprising's efforts for a democratic transition and instead propel the country into civil war.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

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