Arming The Rebels

Well, more news out of Syria.  The rebel fighters, short on arms, have suddenly come into a veritable treasure-house of armaments.  And they didn't have to depend on the outside assistance they've been pleading for.  Turkey, which has been so passionate in espousing the cause of the rebels against the Alawite regime for President Bashar al-Assad doesn't appear to have come through with any arms for them.  Nor has the Arab League, while deploring the actions of the Syrian government against the rebels.

They all seem to be waiting for Britain and France both of whom appear to have been edging toward that conclusion that they would provide arms to the rebels, suddenly halted in that tentative intention, with the latest statement of defiance by the combined Islamist/al-Qaeda-inspired groups battling alongside the more secular rebel tribal groups against the regime.  The growing influence of the Islamists has long been a concern for the West.

And now that they have declared their intention to install a pure Islamic system of governance once they get over the hurdle of de-installing the current regime, the thought of supplying advanced weaponry to religious fanatics becomes somewhat daunting.  A memory of what has already transpired to plague the world in other countries where Islamists have emerged triumphant.  Perhaps thoughts of what fate has in store for the defeated Alawites, the Christian Syrians.

But there it was, the rebel capture of the base of the Syrian army's 46th Regiment, close to Aleppo.  Good for a burst of rebel pride.  Better yet as far as they're concerned, a blow to the government hoping to roll back the rebel advance.  And here are the rebel fighters taking victorious possession of mortars, artillery shells, rockets and rifles.  Along with five tanks, two armoured vehicles, two rocket launchers and two heavy-calibre artillery pieces.

Syrian rebels celebrate after taking a regime military base in the north of the country on Tuesday. The fighters seized tanks, armoured vehicles, weapons and ammunition.  Khalil Hamra/The Associated Press

 

Syrian rebels celebrate after taking a regime military base in the north of the country on Tuesday. The fighters seized tanks, armoured vehicles, weapons and ammunition.

Photograph by: Khalil Hamra, The Associated Press , The Associated Press

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Verily, their cup runneth over.  But they've been hard at work.  It's taken months, but they have been destroying government checkpoints to take over towns in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo adjacent the Turkish border.  Weapons they've been successful in obtaining through these ventures have transformed them from ragtag, ill-equipped, low-morale groups into capable forces to challenge Assad's professionally equipped army.

They've been equally aided by smuggling arms from Turkey and Iraq.  Even so they complain of a lack of heavy weapons, munitions, ammunition and anti-aircraft weapons to face off Assad's air force.  "Their strategy is to hit and run.  They're trying to hit the regime where it hurts by bisecting and compartmentalizing Syria in order to dilute the regime's power", explained Elias Hanna, retired Lebanese army general, Beirut-based strategic analyst.

Unfortunately for the regime, the 46th Regiment was a major pillar of their force.  The loss of the country's economic hub, the city of Aleppo, cut a major supply line to the regime's army.  "It's a tactical turning point that may lead to a strategic shift", said Mr. Hanna.