Local Editor The "Israeli" debkafiles site reported that two Syrian armed groups militias have in the last few days taken delivery and begun using - mostly in the Idlib region - the first advanced US weapon to be deployed.  According to the "Israeli" military sources, "the weapons is the heavy anti-tank, optically-tracked, wire-guided BGM-71 TOW." It further claimed that "this missile is capable of piercing 50mm thickness of Syrian tank armor and Syrian fortifications at a range of 4 kilometers." "Armed with this weapon now are Brig-Gen. Abdul-Hila al Bashir, the new commander of the so-called "Free Syrian Army", which is headquartered at the Golan town of Quneitra, and Jamal Maarouf, head of the Front groups in the north." The "Israeli" sources report that in the last few days, the new weapons are being airlifted in through two routes: the southeastern Turkish town of Diyarbakir on the Tigris, and the giant northern Saudi King Faisal Air Base at Tabuk near the Jordanian border. This comes as US Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, arranged during his visit to "Israel" last week for the Netanyahu government to waive a standing agreement between the US, Saudi Arabia and "Israel", whereby Saudi Air Force F-15 fighters are not stationed in Tabuk given its proximity to Israeli air space. Dempsey explained that they were needed as air cover for the American transports flying the new weapons in via Saudi, and the convoys ferrying them onward from the Saudi base to their destination in southern Syria through Jordan. Stationed at the Tabuk air base too is a squadron of French fighter jets. The route from Turkey to Syria runs through the "Kilis Corridor", which is a narrow armed groups'-controlled strip 40 kilometers long from the southern Turkish town of Gaziantep up to the big Syrian town of Aleppo. Maarouf and his Syrian Revolutionary Front operate from a base in the southern Turkish town of Antakya. In the last of his recent press interviews on April 2, Maarouf disclosed that some of the Front's operations were carried out in conjunction with al Qaeda's al-Nusra. According to the same "Israeli" sources in Washington and Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov obtained from US Secretary of State John Kerry a commitment, when they met in Paris last week, not to supply the armed groups with hand held anti-aircraft missiles. Late last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that US President Barack Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah "appeared to narrow their disagreement on assisting Syrian rebels" amidst a meeting between the two. According to the Journal's report, Obama administration officials said the meeting ended with the White House agreeing to increase its level of assistance to Syrian rebels. Source: Debkafiles, Edited by website team |
08-04-2014 | 10:25 |
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