US and Europe in 'Major Airlift of Arms to Syrian Rebels Through Zagreb'
.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34222.htm .
.
The United States has coordinated a massive airlift of arms to Syrian
rebels from Croatia with the help of Britain and other European states,
despite the continuing European Union arms embargo, it was claimed
yesterday.
.
By Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent
.
March 09, 2013 "Information Clearing House" - "The Telegraph" --
Decisions by William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, to provide non-lethal
assistance and training, announced in the past week, were preceded by
much greater though less direct Western involvement in the rebel cause,
according to a Croat newspaper.
It claimed 3,000 tons of weapons dating back to the former Yugoslavia
have been sent in 75 planeloads from Zagreb airport to the rebels,
largely via Jordan since November.
.
The story confirmed the origins of ex-Yugoslav weapons seen in growing
numbers in rebel hands in online videos, as described last month by The
Daily Telegraph and other newspapers, but suggests far bigger quantities
than previously suspected.
.
The shipments were allegedly paid for by Saudi Arabia at the bidding of
the United States, with assistance on supplying the weapons organised
through Turkey and Jordan, Syria's neighbours. But the report added that
as well as from Croatia, weapons came "from several other European
countries including Britain", without specifying if they were
British-supplied or British-procured arms.
.
British military advisers however are known to be operating in countries
bordering Syria alongside French and Americans, offering training to
rebel leaders and former Syrian army officers.
.
The Americans are also believed to be providing training on securing
chemical weapons sites inside Syria.
.
President Barack Obama has been lukewarm about arming Syrian rebels
though many of his aides have been privately been keener.
.
The story in the Jutarnji List newspaper gave the fullest details yet of
the arms shipments which have enabled rebel forces to begin advancing
across the north of Syria in recent weeks, after months of stalemate.
.
The weapons, including rocket launchers, recoil-less guns and the M79
anti-tank weapon, have been seen in rebel hands in numerous videos, and
were first spotted by an arms expert Eliot Higgins, who blogs under the
name Brown Moses. He traced them moving from Dera'a in the south, near
the Jordanian border, to Aleppo and Idlib provinces in the north.
.
Western officials told the New York Times that the weapons had been
bought from Croatia by Saudi Arabia, and that they had been funnelled to
rebel groups seen by the west as more secular and nationalist.
.
The British involvement fits with the government's policy of doing all
it can to help the rebels within the EU arms embargo, which was modified
but not dropped at the start of this month.
.
Croatia, a close western ally, does not join the EU until July 1 and has
yet to implement the relevant EU legislation, though it has denied the
newspaper's claims.
.
The claims were denied by the Foreign Office. "While the Foreign
Secretary has ruled out no options for the future, the UK has not
supplied weapons to the Syrian opposition," a spokesman said. "This
would be a clear breach of the current EU arms embargo."
.
According to the Croat newspaper, the first cargo planes involved with
the shipment were from Turkey, but most have been from Jordanian
International Air Cargo, whose Russian-made Ilyushin jets have been seen
regularly at Zaghreb airport in recent months.
The airlift of dated but effective
.
Yugoslav-made weapons meets key concerns of the West, and especially
Turkey and the United States, who want the rebels to be better armed to
drive out the Assad regime but fear ultra-modern weaponry getting into
the hands of jihadists and the PKK Kurdish terror group.
.
Nevertheless, Mr Higgins has recently posted videos showing some of the
Croat weapons in the hands of the jihadist group Ahrar al-Sham.
.
Although regarded as hostile to the West, it fights closely with other
Free Syrian Army units regarded as acceptable recipients of weapons.