An unnamed Middle Eastern state has supplied Syrian rebels with 250 sophisticated Soviet-made anti-tank missiles, most of which were given to radical Islamist militias fighting President Bashar Assad, according to a report published in London-based Arabic daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.
According to the report, the unidentified state made its first delivery of 9M113 Konkurs missiles to the rebels a week ago via Turkey. The Konkurs antitank missile, ironicaly supplied by Russia, has a maximum range of four kilometers and a hit probability of 90 percent. Egypt, Iran and Turkey are the only known operators of the missile system in the Middle East.
The information has come from The Times of Israel. The weapons would not have come from President Assad’s Shia Muslim ally, Iran.
Meanwhile, Israel National News has reported that France and Belgium have joined Saudi Arabia in supplying the Free Syrian Army with weapons.
The news comes as world leaders have been gathering on the shores of Loch Erne in Northern Ireland as the G8 summit. President Putin is determined that President Assad should remain in power in any settlement, but the Western powers, including William Hague, the UK Foreign Secretary, and President Obama are supporting the rebels, who include militant Al-Qaeda elements and other hard-line Sunni activists dedicated to exterminating both the Shia Muslims and Syria’s 10% Christian minority, who have enjoyed freedom under the Assad regime.
President Obama has said he will arm the rebels, thus prolonging the Syrian civil war. The US has taken particular umbrage at the alleged small-scale use of chemical weapons by President Assad’s side, as if it is somehow preferable or more gentlemanly to blow opponents to pieces with mortars than suffocate them by Sarin.
However, Leaked emails from a UK weapons company appear to show that Washington was involved in a plan to supply the rebels with chemical weapons whose use could then be blamed on Assad. In addition to that, reports of atrocities on both sides have put paid to the idea that the rebels are benign and restrained.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has argued that Britain will have no means of preventing UK weapons ending up in the hands of “al Qaida-affliated thugs” if it supplies arms to the Syrian rebels, Boris Johnson warned.
Writing for the Daily Telegraph the London mayor put himself at the head of the growing opposition at Westminster to any move by David Cameron to arm the rebels, saying Britain could not end the conflict by “pressing weapons into the hands of maniacs”. The Archbishop of York has agreed.
However, the Foreign Secretary William Hague hit back saying there are “more than two sides” in the conflict.
However the scale of the opposition among MPs of all parties means Mr Cameron – who has promised a Commons vote on any move by Britain to arm the rebels – will almost certainly find his path blocked if he tries to follow suit.
The London Mayor described an incident in Aleppo where a 15-year-old boy was taken away and beaten and then summarily executed by Islamist rebels for making a joking reference to the Prophet Mohammed.
“Odious, twisted, hate-filled thugs; arrogant and inadequate creeps, intoxicated by the pathetic illusion of power that comes with guns; poisoned by a perversion of religion into a contempt for all norms of civilised behaviour,” he wrote.
“They are fighting not for freedom but for a terrifying Islamic state in which they would have the whip hand – and yet there is no dodging or fudging the matter: these are among the Syrian rebels who are hoping now to benefit from the flow of Western arms .
“How is it supposed to work? How are we meant to furnish machine guns and anti-tank weapons to one set of opposition forces, without them ending up in the hands of men like the al Qaida-affiliated thugs who executed a child for telling a joke?
“This is not the moment to send more arms. This is the moment for a total ceasefire, an end to the madness.
“We can’t use Syria as an arena for geopolitical point-scoring or muscle-flexing, and we won’t get a ceasefire by pressing weapons into the hands of maniacs,” he argued.
Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)
Yes the plight of the hundreds of thousands of civilians is tragic beyond belief but to supply sophisticated weapons into this region would be an even greater tragedy with the prospect of a new Shia/ Sunni Islamic -Iran Iraq type war which would probably be on an even greater scale than just 2 Islamic nations as it was then (1980?)..
It could also lead to a proxy war between the West and Russia not forgetting China who are probably also supplying Syria. My concern is for Israel and the Christian community in Syria. The great “liberating” war to get rid of Saddam Hussein and introduce the great Western model of democracy only resulted in the most vicious and cruel persecution of Christians to the extent they have declined as a religious minority from over 1 million to less than 200 000 never mind the on going violence and inter Muslim strife. Would Syria be any different?. They also have a Christian minority who are already experiencing persecution in the areas liberated by the FSA. A Muslim brotherhood state will be established in Syria and this is the trend in all Muslim countries ie a stricter interpretation of the Koran in order to receive Allah’s favour. Then there is Israel. Once Syria is “liberated” the groups fighting for that liberation will turn their attention to Israel resulting in a massive Arab / Israeli war as never seen before.
David Cameron must stand back from this utter folly and concentrate rather on issues that matter to the people of the UK —- NHS, Education, unemployment etc etc and things like why more people have to use food banks to survive.
I agree with David’s comments entirely, and with the statements by Boris Johnson, and I believe that the majority of clear-thinking people in the UK do, too.
When will our politicians see sense? Can they not see parallels with Iraq? They are either “fools or knaves”, and I do not know which is the worse indictment!
The madness of the Islamic cult knows no bounds – hence their striving for a worldwide Islamic ‘caliphate’. Jews and Christians and other “infidels” will feel their wrath.
I do not understand why these wise men like Barak Obama, David Cameron and many others are not able to
identify the real nature and agendas of muslim extrimists throughout the world. Why have they closed eyes from
persecutions of christians in Islamic countries. Why they don’t want to learn from Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Libya
etc and what happened there with christians after so called liberation and victory by rebels What they want to
leave in this world for generation to come. You help and fight for them but they will always fight against you
and your culture and traditions. They are working on agenda to take over Britain and Europe to change them
as Islamic Britain and Islamic Europe. Why you people are in hurry to hand over your country and continent to
them.
They are frightened of being accused of racism and not being politically correct besides they all believe in a brotherhood of man under some super UN type entity with one leader. Christians believe this will happen anyway and that, that world leader will be the anti Christ as foretold in the book of Revelation in the Bible before the return of Jesus Christ to the Earth.
B Sundh, accompanying the rise of multi-culturalism in the UK is the desire to appease other faiths and beliefs. ‘Under the cloak of multiculturalism, improving community cohesion, combating Islamophobia and removing prejudice, Western governments and public bodies are unwittingly supporting and partly funding a growing and sophisticated campaign of Muslim missionary activity (Barnabas Magazine July – August 2009)’.
Does post-war immigration also bear blame in this? Possibly. With the best of intentions, politicians at the time allowed a post-war influx leading to self-imposed ghettos (possibly) leading to the flourishing of other faiths new to these shores.
Well, the Lord Jesus promised that these things would happen. The beginning of the end..?