Posted on 02/26/2013 3:47:52 PM PST by Seizethecarp
Saudi Arabia has financed a large purchase of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to antigovernment fighters in Syria in a drive to break the bloody stalemate that has allowed President Bashar al-Assad to cling to power, according to American and Western officials familiar with the purchases.
The weapons began reaching rebels in December via shipments shuttled through Jordan, officials said, and have been a factor in the rebels’ small tactical gains this winter against the army and militias loyal to Mr. Assad.
Washington’s role in the shipments, if any, is not clear. Officials in Europe and the United States, including those at the Central Intelligence Agency, cited the sensitivity of the shipments and declined to comment publicly.
Officials familiar with the transfers said the arms were part of an undeclared surplus in Croatia remaining from the 1990s Balkan wars. One Western official said the shipments included “thousands of rifles and hundreds of machine guns” and an unknown quantity of ammunition.
Croatia’s Foreign Ministry and arms-export agency denied that such shipments had occurred. Saudi officials have declined requests for interviews about the shipments for two weeks. Jordanian officials also declined to comment. Jutarnji list, a Croatian daily newspaper, reported Saturday that in recent months there had been an unusually high number of sightings of Jordanian cargo planes at Pleso Airport in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital.
The newspaper said the United States, Croatia’s main political and military ally, was possibly the intermediary, and mentioned four sightings at Pleso Airport of Ilyushin 76 aircraft owned by Jordan International Air Cargo. It said such aircraft had been seen on Dec. 14 and 23, Jan. 6 and Feb. 18. Ivica Nekic, director of the agency in charge of arms exports in Croatia, dismissed the Croatian report as speculation.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If a bunch of rag tag rebels could bring dowthis regime, Israel could have gone through Syria like a hot knife through butter.
This leak to the NY Times could be an attempt elevate Croatia, not Libya, as the source of the arms flowing into Syria. How many Croatian arms did Libya have in inventory that Ambassador Stevens or Islamists could have gotten ahold of?
Somebody had to replace the weapons that were being funneled through our “consulate” and “warehouse” in Benghazi.
That's consistent with a cut-off of the flow of weapons from Benghazi on September 11.
About time the Saudiis started investing in their own neighborhood.
Croatia makes quality weapons. As far as handguns you won’t find too much better than the HS2000, otherwise known as the Springfield XD.
Oh, I think that they have been invested in this for some time. Obama just couldn't keep carrying their water for them since Ben Gazzi. That and Russia et al has caught on to his tricks.
The Saudis and the Croats, once again together working for the murder and dispossession of Orthodox Christians. Of course, Foggy Bottom will stand behind them just as in the Balkans — pravoslavniphobia is a constant of U.S. policy, regardless of who’s in the White House.
Assad is a thug, but he keeps the Sunnis from murdering the Christians in Syria, where the largest Christian confessions are the Orthodox and the Jacobites (the latter in communion with the Copts).
Saudi Arabia has financed a large purchase of infantry weapons from Croatia... shipments shuttled through Jordan... the arms were part of an undeclared surplus in Croatia remaining from the 1990s Balkan wars... included "thousands of rifles and hundreds of machine guns” and an unknown quantity of ammunition. Croatia's Foreign Ministry and arms-export agency denied that such shipments had occurred... an unusually high number of sightings of Jordanian cargo planes at Pleso Airport in Zagreb, Croatia's capital... Ilyushin 76 aircraft...
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