Foreign Backers Agree to Send Weapons to Syria’s Rebels

Deal Will Send 'All the Necessary' Arms for Civil War

Though it didn’t include any specifics about what exactly was going to be sent, the “Friends of Syria” conference of nations in favor of imposing regime change in the nation, held this weekend in Qatar, agreed in principle to “urgently” provide the rebels with “all the necessary materiel and equipment” to fight such a war.

Officials familiar with the deal say it will lead to a quick influx of additional anti-aircraft weapons to the rebels from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, though indications are that they have been sending such arms to the Islamist rebels for quite some time.

Though the EU nations and Secretary of State John Kerry presented the announcement as a “collective answer” to the Syrian rebels pleas for weaponry to conquer the country, there was no indication that the statement will mean any change in their respective plans to arm the rebels.

The US has said it fully intends to do so,  but has been extremely tight-lipped on the details, likely fearing the inevitable political fallout when their arms start falling into the hands of the al-Qaeda-aligned portions of the rebellion, something they promise to avoid but which seems virtually inevitable.

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.