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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSyria crisis: US urges Saudis to support diplomacy to end bloodshed
Hillary Clinton in Riyadh for talks amid concern Saudi Arabia and Qatar are planning to arm anti-Assad regime rebels.
Diplomats and analysts insist there is still no hard evidence of Saudi or Qatari supplies to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main armed wing of the opposition. "There is a lot of lobbying but little sign they have acted on it," said one western official.
The Saudis have reportedly been pressing Jordan to allow weapons across their border into Syria, so far to no avail. Turkey is also preventing arms transfers.
For all the talk, the FSA is still only lightly armed. "They are organised locally and armed with nothing more sophisticated than AK-47 assault rifles, RPGs, and PK machine guns," according to Malik al-Abdeh, a London-based supporter of the Syrian National Council.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/30/syria-crisis-saudi-arabia-diplomacy?cat=world&type=article
Please note - Hillary Clinton does not want Saudi Arabia and Qatar to arm the Syrian opposition. Wants diplomacy to succeed.
That is, any claims that the opposition are Saudi or Qatar backed are simply false.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)I hope we don't obstruct others from arming them.
tabatha
(18,795 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...I think the journalists have been scared off after Homs, which is not good at all.
*finger-cross* for Syrian rebels.