U.S. providing some lethal aid to Syrian rebels - opposition spokesman

Well it's official, the US went from providing non lethal aid to "some" lethal aid. God knows what the CIA has done for them covertly already but the flood gates have been officially opened and Al Qaeda be damned, US politicians are going to arm the rebels & throw all caution to the wind.

(Sorry for the mobile link, unless you're on a mobile, then you're welcome)

mobile.reuters.com...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has begun distributing some weapons to the Syrian rebels, a spokesman for the Syrian Coalition of groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday, after months of reported delays.

"The U.S. is distributing non-lethal aid and ... some lethal assistance as well to the SMC (Supreme Military Council)," Saleh told a news conference, referring to the council that oversees operations of rebels loyal to General Salim Idriss.

Last week, a former senior U.S. official said a limited quantity of American arms had reached the rebels.

Reading the article you would think no lethal aid was given to the rebels but we all can safely assume covert shipments have made their way to rebel hands, most likely via Saudi, Turkey, & Qatar, but let this report be the first of many about arming the opposition, especially if the US military stands down.

reply to post by Swills


Canucks post this just below you .. ..

It's official: The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria

Soooo-now The Messiah is sending weapons to the same people who murdered 3,000 innocent Americans?? Are you kidding me?????

reply to post by Skippy1138


The very same.

Ya know. . ? The ones that George Bush was referring to when he said "We Will NOT Negotiate with Terrorists".

Yep, those guys.

reply to post by Skippy1138


Didn't see it but its okay, 2 of the same threads can exist on ATS.

reply to post by Swills


Not sure how I feel about this.

The Russians and Iran have been literally flying in weapons and "military advisors" to Assad on a steady weekly basis. So the premise of "let Syria sort it out on their own" was never on the table.

Best estimates are that around 20% of the rebel forces are AQ/Extremists of some flavor and 80% are moderate or secular defectors from Assad and civilians.

The CIA hopefully has a plan to prevent the arms from landing in the extremists faction of the rebel forces, but I am not optimistic the CIA can do that, they have a long as well as recent history of failing in that area. We armed the Libyan rebels and Rocket Launchers ended up in the hands of extremists and the CIA has been trying to retrieve them ever since...thus the Spec Ops and CIA that were present in Libya at the time our embassy was attacked.

Meh..I don't know. It has never been a fair fight in Syria with Iran and Russia providing weapons and troops, but the CIA arming the rebels? Have we ever armed rebels where it di not bight us in the ass? From Iran Contra, to Afghanistan to Libya?

Skippy1138
Soooo-now The Messiah is sending weapons to the same people who murdered 3,000 innocent Americans?? Are you kidding me?????

Nothing personal...but that seems an awfully un-informed assessment.

reply to post by Indigo5


Arming the rebels clearly is a terrible idea, history proves this, but more importantly the US/western govt aren't arming the rebels to stop Assad and reign in democracy to free the innocent people. They don't give a damn about the innocent, they only give a damn about their agenda & seeing those plans full filled.

Funny that the FSA denies that they've gotten any weapons, or ammunition from the US. The commander said that they have only gotten food, some vehicles for ambulances, communications equipment, computers, etc. He said they have been in talks to get weapons, but they haven't received anything yet.