Report: Terrorists Using French-Made Heavy Weapons in Syria

Newly taken photos show terrorist groups fighting the government forces in Northern and Northwestern Syria are now using heavy weapons made in France, media reports said.

The photos taken from terrorist groups, especially from the” al-Nusra Front” and the so-called “Sham and Iraq Islamic Emirate”, in Jebel al-Zawiya in Reef (outskirts of) Idlib in Northwestern Syria and al-Maghirat region in Northern Reef Aleppo in the Northern parts of the country show that they are using French anti-tank missiles, named as MILAN, the Arabic-language al-Haqiqa news website reported.

MILAN has a range of three kilometers and uses wired control system.

The European Union recently revoked the previous bans on dispatch of weapons to armed groups in Syria despite opposition of some western countries.

It is not clear yet if the terrorist groups have received the MILAN missiles directly from France or through Libyan terrorist groups. In 2011 when NATO invaded Libya to topple the Qaddafi’s regime, France supplied Libyan terrorist groups with similar weapons to fight against the government forces.

Earlier this year, a Libyan member of the al-Qaeda terrorist group disclosed that France has supplied armed rebel and terrorist groups in Syria with Russian Igla anti-air missiles and even trained them how to use these systems.

The French army which supported the Libyan rebels with logistical and intelligence backups, collected 232 Igla missiles which were in the hands of the Libyan fighters who were busy with fighting Qaddafi’s supporters.

 “After that the French found some of the Libyan army officers who had been trained to use Igla missiles and in September 2012 they used these offers for training a number of al-Qaeda terrorists who ran operations in Syria,” a Libyan officer explained.

 “Then the French transited these al-Qaeda members and the Igla anti-air systems from Benghazi to the Southern provinces of Turkey on a Bulgarian cargo plane and then ferried them across the border into Syria,” he added.

Source:FNA

M.D