Saudi Arabia sends military equipment to Syria rebels

Times of India

Sources said Saudi military equipment is on its way to Jordan to arm the Free Syrian Army

“Saudi military equipment is on its way to Jordan to arm the Free Syrian Army,” the diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The announcement came two days after the kingdom said it had shut down its embassy in Syria and withdrawn all its staff.

It also followed a brief meeting on the Syrian crisis last week between Jordan’s King Abdullah and the Saudi monarch in Riyadh.

There was no official reaction to the statement from Riyadh or Amman, which this month called for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis, arguing Jordan was among the worst affected by its repercussions.

Jordan shares its northern border with Syria, through which more than 65 per cent of its trade transits. According to local officials, some 80,000 Syrians are estimated to have fled to the kingdom since March 2011.

Riyadh has taken a strong stance against the escalating bloodshed and, along with its five Gulf Cooperation Council partners, expelled Syrian envoys last month and withdrew their own over the “mass slaughter” of civilians.

Earlier this month, Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal publicly defended the right of the Syrian opposition to arm itself.

“It is the right of the Syrians to arm themselves in order to defend themselves. Weapons used to target homes are used in wars with enemies,” he said.

King Abdullah had also previously called for “critical measures” to be taken against Syria’s regime, warning of an impending “humanitarian disaster.”

Last week, Syrian Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud told AFP that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were backing “armed terrorist gangs” operating in the country and were therefore responsible for the resulting bloodshed.

“Some of the countries backing armed terrorist gangs, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are accomplices to the terrorism targeting the Syrian people… and bear responsibility for the bloodletting,” he said.

Those charges were renewed on Syrian state television on Saturday after two huge bomb blasts killed at least 27 people and wounded almost 100 in central Damascus.

“Saudi Arabia is sending us terrorists,” a resident of the devastated areas said on television.

“These are the friends… of the Istanbul council,” said another, referring to the opposition Syrian National Council set up in the Turkish city last August.

At least 9,100 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the uprising against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.