DEBKAfile
June 18, 2013
NATO and a number of European governments, most significantly the UK,
have started airlifting heavy weapons to the Syrian rebels poised in
Aleppo to fend off a major Syrian army offensive, according
to DEBKAfile’s exclusive military sources. They disclose that the first
shipments were landed Monday night, June 17, and early Tuesday in Turkey
and Jordan. They contained anti-air and tank missiles as well as
recoilless 120 mm cannons mounted on jeeps. From there, they were
transferred to rebel forces in southern Syria and Aleppo in the
northwest.
Our sources report that the first weapons reached rebel-held
positions in Aleppo early Tuesday. More than 2,000 Hizballah troops are
standing by to enter the decisive contest between Assad’s army and the
opposition for control of Syria’s second most important city.
The hardware for the rebels is coming in from three sources:
1. NATO stores in Europe, which have been filling up in the past year
with arms evacuated from Afghanistan. These weapons have been in
operational use and are not new.
2. The Libyan black market.
3. The Balkan black market, chiefly Serbia and Montenegro.
Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad cautioned Europe it would pay the
price for delivering arms to rebel forces in Syria. In an interview to
in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said: “If the Europeans
deliver weapons, the backyard of Europe will become terrorist…”
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