Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Saudi Arabia and Qatar openly arming the Syrian opposition

Where the NATO players are still hiding in the shadows, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have come out in the open in their arming of those fighting against the Assad government.  Foreign Policy magazine reports that the Saudi monarchy has been "sending weapons on an ad hoc basis to the Syrian opposition by way of Sunni tribal allies in Iraq and Lebanon.  But in light of recent developments, more weapons are certainly on their way."  At last week "Friends of Syria" conference (or more correctly "enemies of Assad") the Saudi foreign minister was upset that no declaration was made to help arm the opposition, and now it appears the Sauds have moved to the front on the interventionist pack.
       In this venture, Riyadh is possibly being joined by their GCC buddy Qatar, where Prime Minister al-Thani recently said "We should do whatever necessary to help the Syrian opposition, including giving them weapons to defend themselves."

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