Friends of Terrorism Announced Emergency to Rescue Terrorists

DOHA,(ST)_ In their meeting in Doha yesterday,  Friends of terrorism  announced providing  “urgent support for” the Syrian opposition “on  the ground and left it for each country  to choose the kind of  support it wants.”

It seemed that the pace of acceleration made by the participants was linked  to developments in the field after the Syrian Arab Army had made  qualitative progress  in  having total control  on the Lebanese-Syrian border  area in al-Qusair and the isolation of terrorists  with the lack of  their supplies  , a matter which pushed the  friends of Syria  to announce what looks like a state  of emergency to rescue terrorists .

Syria ‘s International opponents agreed on Saturday to give urgent military support to Western-backed terrorists, 

With the  U.S. administration responded by saying, for the first time, it would arm “rebels” , while Gulf sources say Saudi Arabia has accelerated the delivery of advanced weapons to the rebels over the last week.

Ministers from the 11 core members of the Friends of Syria group, agreed “to provide urgently all the necessary materiel and equipment to the opposition on the ground,” according to a statement released at the end of their meeting in Qatar, Reuters said.

The statement did not commit all the countries to send weapons, but said each country could provide assistance “in its own way.”

The aid should be channeled through the Western-backed Supreme Military Council, a move that Washington and its European allies hope will prevent weapons falling into the hands of Islamist radicals including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

Two Gulf sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia, which started supplying anti-aircraft missiles to the “rebels” on a small scale two months ago, had accelerated delivery of sophisticated weaponry.

“In the past week there have been more arrivals of these advanced weapons. They are getting them more frequently,” one source said, without giving details. Another Gulf source described them as “potentially balance-tipping” supplies.

French military advisers are already training the “rebels” to use some of the new equipment in Turkey and Jordan, sources familiar with the training programs said. U.S. forces have been carrying out similar training, “rebels ” say.

A French diplomatic source said Paris would increase non-lethal aid such as communications equipment, gas masks, night vision goggles and bullet proof vests. It would also provide assistance with military strategy and battlefield intelligence.

“All this has already started,” a Western source said. “Broadly speaking, Western nations will do this, while Gulf Arab nations will deliver the weapons. It’s a division of roles.

“If the northern front receives enough material and non-material support quickly, it could soon be equivalent to thousands of men, or even tens of thousands,” the source added.

Tehran, which says it supports Syria  economically and politically, criticized the Doha participants.

“If a meeting leads to weapons being put in the hands of mercenaries and terrorists in Syria, prolonging the killing in Syria and bringing destruction, we are against it,” ISNA news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani of Qatar, which along with Saudi Arabia has been one of the most open Arab backers of the anti-Syria terrorists , said that supplying them with weapons was the only way to resolve the conflict.

“Force is necessary to achieve justice. And the provision of weapons is the only way to achieve peace in Syria’s case,” Sheikh Hamad told ministers at the start of the talks.

The meeting in Qatar brought together ministers and senior officials of countries that support the rebels – France, Germany, Egypt, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States – although the fractured Syrian opposition itself was notably absent.

The United States and Russia hoped to bring the Syrian sides together for negotiations originally scheduled to be held in Geneva this month but now unlikely to take place before August.

T. Fateh