Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide rebels there with more sophisticated weaponry, including shoulder-fired missiles that can take down jets, according to Western and Arab diplomats and opposition figures, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Saudi Arabia has offered to give the opposition for
the first time Chinese man-portable air defence systems, or Manpads, and
antitank guided missiles from Russia, according to an Arab diplomat and several
opposition figures with knowledge of the efforts. Saudi officials couldn't be
reached to comment.
The U.S. has long opposed arming rebels with
antiaircraft missiles for fear they could fall into the hands of extremists who
might use them against the West or commercial airlines. The Saudis have held
off supplying them in the past because of U.S. opposition. A senior Obama
administration official said Friday that the U.S. objection remains the same.
"There hasn't been a change internally on our view," the official
said.
The U.S. for its part has stepped up financial
support, handing over millions of dollars in new aid to pay fighters' salaries,
said rebel commanders who received some of the money. The U.S. wouldn't comment
on any payments.
The focus of the new rebel military push is to retake
the southern suburbs of Damascus in hopes of forcing the regime to accept a
political resolution to the war by agreeing to a transitional government
without President Bashar al-Assad.
But if the Manpads are supplied in the quantities
needed, rebels said it could tip the balance in the stalemated war in favour of
the opposition. The antiaircraft and Russian Konkurs antitank weapons would
help them chip away at the regime's two big advantages on the battlefield—air
power and heavy armour.
"New stuff is arriving imminently," said a
Western diplomat with knowledge of the weapons deliveries.
Rebel commanders and leaders of the Syrian political
opposition said they don't know yet how many of the Manpads and antiaircraft
missiles they will get. But they have been told it is a significant amount. The
weapons are already waiting in warehouses in Jordan and Turkey. Agencies
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