Title: Mcgowanjm Wire 2012 Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Feb 26, 2012 Author:Various Post Date:2012-02-26 09:15:13 by A K A Stone Keywords:None Views:1465235 Comments:2390
"if israel is so happy with al-qaeda, what does that say about 9/11?
Syrian rebels armed with first T-62 tanks DEBKAfile, Aug 14 2012
The Syrian rebels’ Western and Arab sponsors have ratcheted up their military assistance by giving them tanks, 20 Russian-made T-62 tanks from Libya, debkafile reports. Clinton gave the nod for the transfer to the rebels of their first heavy weapons during her brief visit to Istanbul on Aug 13, as the prelude to the next step of the war. Qatar is paying for the tanks. The Obama administration first agreed to Turkey arming the Free Syrian Army with FIM-92 anti-air Stinger missiles. On Aug 13, rebels shot down a Syrian Air Force Mig-21 over the northeastern town of Deir al-Zour, using shoulder-carried Stingers. The Syrian government claimed it had crashed because of technical problems, but the rebels quickly released photos of the captured pilot, Col Rafiq Mohammed Suleiman, surrounded by their guns. The Syrian conflict has thus entered a new phase, the prelude to the creation of the first safe havens inside the country, which the FSA and other rebel groups will now be armed to defend. Turkey has drawn up plans for carving out those safe havens between 5 and 25 km deep inside Syrian territory and on its borders with Turkey and Iraq. Ankara is concerned less with the military aspects of those safe zones than with using them to relieve Turkey of the burden of hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians who have fled and continue to flee across the border into Turkey as destitute refugees. The supply of tanks and the Stingers lays the ground for the sanctuaries’ defenses. The 20 T-62 tanks from Libya were unloaded last week at the Turkish port of Iskenderun, already painted over with FSA insignia. They were handed to Syrian rebel teams trained in tank warfare and have since crossed into northern Syria."
