US Sending Weapons to Syria

ANGLO AMERICA, MILITARISM, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, SYRIA IN CONTEXT, 22 Apr 2013

News Day – TRANSCEND Media Service

Contrary to statements by United States officials who claim they do not deliver weapons to militants in Syria, but deliver only assistance in the form of “non-lethal” means, there is growing evidence of the US complicity in transfer of weapons to terrorists operating in Syria.

US Senator Rand Paul said the statements by persons claiming that the US is not involved in smuggling weapons to Syria are false.

He emphasised that there is reliable information in respect of consignments of weapons from Libya to Syria under US control.

In an interview with US television channel CNN, the senator said he asked the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a question concerning a consignment by the US from Libya via Turkey of weapons to Syrian rebels and she said that a week before the murder of the US ambassador to Libya a ship with lots of weapons was sent from the country, and the US knew about it.

A meeting was held with the captain of the ship, who told the US representatives about weapons that had already been sent to the Syrian rebels and a shoot-out between the militants because of weapons division.

According to Paul, the US ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, not only supervised the shipment of weapons to the Syrian opposition, but also recruited jihadists for the Syrian opposition.

Paul confirmed that Syrian fighters for the most part are composed of members of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organisation and have a relationship with al-Qaeda.

They are bearers of extremist ideas and it is inadmissible for the US to arm them.

This is a threat to the people of Syria.

In turn, the head of the Pentagon, Leon Panetta and the US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey for the first time acknowledged that the United States Department of Defence supported the idea of arming the Syrian rebels.

During the hearings in the US Senate, both commanders answered affirmatively to US Senator John McCain’s question whether  they supported recommendations on military supplies to the Syrian opposition armed groups, which were advanced in 2012 by the Central Intelligence Agency and Secretary of State Clinton, and which were not authorised by the President Barack Obama.

Panetta explained: “There were certain factors that eventually led to the fact that the president decided that assistance must be non-military.”

Paul’s statement on weapon transfers to Syrian rebels through Turkey and Libya shows that the non-military aid to the Syrian opposition served as an information camouflage for supplying militants with weapons through the US.

Go to Original – newsday.co.zw

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