Den siste tiden er opprørerne i Syria observert med flere typer nye moderne, hardtslående våpen. Men hvem utstyrer dem?

Våpnene føres inn via Jordan og Tyrkia. De stammer fra Kroatia. Men Kroatia har neppe tatt initiativ til eksporten på egen hånd. En stor vestlig aktør har trolig fått nok av nøling og sendrektighet. Våpnene er i hendene på moderate opprørere. Det hadde de neppe vært hvis Qatar og Saudi-Arabia hadde stått bak.

Det er Ed Weiss som skriver om den siste utviklingen i Lebanon NOW: Who just started arming Syria rebels?

Syria’s rebels are now receiving better and more copious arms from some outside actor. Moreover, the way in which those arms are being distributed, as well as to whom, strongly hints that some Western actors are finally acceding to a military option for a conflict that never had a chance for a diplomatic or political breakthrough. In one of the most strangely neglected stories in the two-year Syria conflict, beginning on January 1, four new weapon models began appearing in large quantities in Daraa province, none used at any time by the Syrian military. The M60 recoilless gun, the M79 Osa rocket launcher, the RPG-22 rocket launcher and the Milkor MGL/RBG-6 grenade launcher hadn’t been shown in any opposition videos until the new year. Every device was used in a massive joint rebel operation against Busr al-Harir, a town previously safely in regime hands to the northeast of Daraa city. Several tanks and BMPs (armored personnel carriers) were destroyed in the ensuing battle and, as Syria analyst James Miller of EA Worldview told me, what distinguished this rebel sortie from others was that “the fighters didn’t seem concerned about preserving the ammunition for these weapons.” Rebels tend to hoard the bullets of their Kalashnikovs, so the fact that they’d promiscuously expend the ammo of more powerful and newer-made arms is noteworthy. And there was another major oddity: Unlike most recent attacks against regime installations, the Busr al-Harir fight was waged mainly by secular or moderate units of the Free Syrian Army, with the normally ever-present Jabhat al-Nusra, the US-blacklisted Syrian branch of al-Qaeda in Iraq, conspicuously absent.

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That sophisticated anti-tank and anti-infantry munitions are now being funneled exclusively to non-extremist rebel units, who themselves are committed to isolating al-Qaeda, suggests either a staggering coincidence or some degree of external facilitation. Now here’s another interesting fact. The M60, the M79, the RBG-6 and the RPG-22 are all currently in use by the Croatian Army.

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But even assuming that Zagreb isn’t directly or indirectly supplying these arms to Syria, might a hitherto unknown arms dealer – Croatian or otherwise, state or non-state – now be working directly with a regional intermediary who is supplying them? If so, how is it that this arms dealer has managed to negotiate relatively smooth supply routes through both Jordan and Turkey?

 

Storbritannias utenriksminister William Hague har uttrykt frustrasjon over den manglende våpenhjelpen og tatt til orde for screening av opprørerne. Men har Storbritannia «clout» til å foreta seg noe slikt på egen hånd? Er det tenkelig at det kan skje uten Washingtons godkjenning?

Men da må Barack Obama ha foretatt en helomvending. Det er ikke lenge siden aviser meldte at han hadde satt foten ned etter at både Hillary Clinton, CIA og forsvarssjefen gikk inn for væpning av ansvarlige opprørere.