3,500 tons of weapons already sent to ” rebels” in Syria , says Lord Ashdown

Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, spoke out against arming “rebels” in Syria and called for pressure to be put on Qatar and Saudi Arabia to cut off funding for arms.

Lord Ashdown described the rebels as “not a fit and proper collection of people for us to be providing arms to”. 

“They do not need arms. It is an unchallenged figure that 3,500 tons of arms have been shipped in by way of Croatia with the assistance of the CIA, funded by the Saudis, funded by the Qataris, going almost exclusively to the more jihadist groups,” the former international high representative for Bosnia said in a debate.

 “I know where those weapons are coming from. They are the weapons left over from the Bosnian war. They are being shipped out in large measure through Croatian ports and airports and I can tell you they are making vast sums for corrupt forces in the Balkans.”

Britain and France favor arming the “rebels”, while in a change of policy Washington recently announced it would supply direct military aid to opponents of the Syrian government.

  Lord Ashdown said he knew of “no occasion” when a route to peace was to provide more weapons.

 “If it is the case that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are today funding the very “jihadists” against which we are fighting, why are we not using international pressure, the United States, the European Union, to persuade Saudi Arabia and Qatar to stop, to prevent this?” he said.

“It seems to me we should not stumble towards arms when there is diplomacy still to be played out.”

Source: the Daily Telegraph

M.D