|
Syrian Rebels 'Buying Arms from the Regime'
[An Nahar] The Syrian regime may be their sworn enemy, but rebels fighting to bring down  Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad Lord of the Baath... say they pay hard cash to government agents for guns and bullets. Lenin once said that the last capitalist would sell them the rope to hang the second to last. For Syria's plethora of armed opposition groups, obtaining weapons is a constant struggle. Furious with the West for failing to provide heavy weaponry, they say they have little choice but to line Assad's coffers. In a country where national service is compulsory, and a conflict where brothers fight on opposing sides and rebels defect from the armed forces, they say it is not difficult to find a "middleman" or an "old friend" to help. "We buy from Assad spies and on the market," said Major Abu Mahar, puffing on a French cigarette over coffee at a gym requisitioned by his network of fighters as a base in the northern city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... He claims to lead 200 men who conduct "special missions" against Assad's forces. But like other units, they are poorly armed with machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles and home-made rockets and bombs. Seven Kalashnikovs hang upside down from hooks and a bucket of bullets sits in the corner of Abu Mahar's office, which overlooks the mirror-lined workout room where bodybuilders used to flex their pecs. Quietly spoken and hunched over in a leather jacket, he defected this summer from the air force. And like other rebels, he still has associates in various branches of the government military and security. Abu Mahar says a bullet costs 110 Syrian pounds ($1.60) to buy from the regime, compared with $2 on the market, declining to specify where that market might be. He claims that most of his group's ammunition supplies come from the shabiha, the term used to refer to state-sponsored militia hired by the government. "We buy them from double agents, they need the money. The shabiha's God is money. They don't care about anything else. If you give them money they'll even sell you their own mother," he said. "They have open access to army, police and intelligence bullet stores. They're saving up for when the regime falls," he smiled into his salt-and-pepper beard. But Abu Mahar is evasive about where and how often the exchanges take place. He says his network uses a "pointman" or an "old friend," and they do not meet face to face. Posted by: Fred 2012-10-31 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=355058 |