Syrian Rebels ‘Running Out of Ammo’ Again

FSA Expresses Annoyance at Lack of International Arms

The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) seemed to reach the apex of its influence inside Syria at the end of February, but an ammunition shortage cost it serious momentum, and it has been all downhill for its side in the civil war since.

The FSA had to dramatically pare back their operations early this month, because ammunition was becoming too dear to simply waste on open-ended gunbattles with Syrian soldiers. Now, the black market bullets are almost impossible to come by, and they are ceding more ground to the Assad regime.

FSA leaders have been expressing annoyance for a while that the international community did not provide the weapons and funding that they felt was implied. At this point, however, even those eager for a regime change might feel the FSA is not a faction to bet on.

With the military-styled FSA, whose leadership and rank and file are mostly Syrian military defectors, struggling to get the civil war back on track, increasingly the rebels are turning to IED and bombing attacks instead of direct conflicts which they simply can’t sustain.

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.