Rebel General: West ‘Indirectly Responsible’ for Syria Deaths

Insists Anyone Who Doesn't Give Him Weapons 'Complicit'

Speaking at a rally in the village of Atmeh along the border with Turkey, Free Syrian Army (FSA) Brigadier General Ahmad al-Fajj blasted the Western world, terming them “indirectly responsible” for the large number of deaths in the Syrian civil war.

“We asked all the arms dealers and traffickers in the region to sell us anti-aircraft missiles. They told us they needed the green light from the CIA and Mossad, and the light was red,” he said, adding that he believes he could conquer the whole country in a week if he had surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).

Syria’s rebels have been loading up on weapons, but the West has been concerned about giving them SAMs because they have called civilian passenger aircraft “legitimate military targets.”

Fajj’s comments reflect an ongoing public narrative among Syrian rebels that anyone not directly giving them not just weapons, but all types of weapons they could conceivably want, is not sufficiently on-board for the ongoing civil war. His “one week” comment also reflects the boundless optimism of both sides, which continue to believe they are on the verge of a major breakthrough in the stalemated war.

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.