Is US Trafficking Arms To Syrian Rebels?

The US may have helped Syrian rebels by delivering Russian origin weapons from Romania to Turkey and Jordan late last year.

The US government’s Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website had solicited bids to transport a number of weapons and ammunition being sent to from a port in Romania to Turkey and Jordan.

In a report published earlier this week, IHS Janes said, “The FBO on 3 Nov 2015, released two solicitations in recent months looking for shipping companies to transport explosive material from Eastern Europe to the Jordanian port of Aqaba on behalf of the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command.”

The solicitation sought a contractor to ship 81 containers of cargo that included explosive material from Constanta in Romania to Aqaba in Jordan.  It is not known which firms responded to the bids or if the contract was fulfilled.

The cargo listed in the document included AK-47 rifles, PKM general-purpose machine guns, DShK heavy machine guns, RPG-7 rocket launchers, and 9K111M Faktoria anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) systems. The Faktoria is an improved version of the 9K111 Fagot ATGW, the primary difference being that its missile has a tandem warhead for defeating explosive reactive armour (ERA) fitted to some tanks, the report said.

The Aqaba port is part of the co-operation agreement signed between Turkey and Jordan in March this year. “The Aqaba port is strategically important for us. We want to take advantage of Ro-Ro transportation between Iskenderun and Aqaba in the aftermath of the crisis in Syria and Iraq,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying by Hurriyet Daily news on March 27.

Turkey's state intelligence agency had reportedly helped deliver arms to parts of Syria under Islamist rebel control during late 2013 and early 2014, Reuters reported quoting a prosecutor and court testimony from gendarmerie officers in May 2015.

Turkey increased its support to the terrorists (Syrian rebels) in November 2015. The statement by the Syrian army command alleged that weapons were being delivered in shipments which Turkey claimed to be humanitarian assistance. It also alleged the weapons were supplied in exchange for looted Syrian and Iraqi antiquities and oil sold at low prices.

A Syrian military source was quoted by Reuters as saying that rebels were making heavy use of US-made anti-tank missiles paid for by Saudi Arabia and supplied via Turkey.

"We have certain information that the Turkish government has recently increased its support to the terrorists and the level of their supplies of weapons, ammunition and equipment necessary to continue their criminal acts," the Syrian army statement in November 2015.

The army statement said: "The Turkish authorities deliberately created a state of security chaos at the Syrian-Turkish borders, leading to the easy movement of terrorists from Syria to Europe to carry out their terrorist crimes."

“The Saudis contribute both weapons and large sums of money, and the US Central investigating Agency (CIA) takes the lead in training the rebels on AK-47 assault rifles and tank-destroying missiles,” the New york Times reported in January this year.