Libya’s New Regime May Attack Syria

At Istanbul Meeting, NTC Suggests Arming Opposition, Sending Fighters to Syria

According to officials familiar with the situation, a meeting between Libya’s new regime, the NATO-backed National Transitional Council (NTC) and members of the Syrian National Council (SNC) ended with a request for the NTC to send arms to the opposition, and potentially to get involved even more.

“There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria,” one Libyan source said. “There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see.”

Faced with growing international calls for sanctions and even regime change, the Syrian government is fighting a growing battle with its own military defectors, as well as attacking civilian protesters.

Though there has been some talk of a Turkish invasion, few people could have imagined that the new Libyan regime, flush though it is with western subsidies, would be keen to invade. In the end funneling arms may be a simpler process, as the NTC has control of a number of old Gadhafi-era weapons warehouses, and some still haven’t been looted, according to reports.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.