US- made Al-Qaeda front desperately waiting for EU weapons
An analyst says if the EU arms embargo is lifted on Syria, an influx of weapons would fall into the hands of al-Qaeda and this is what Britain and France are pushing for.
In the background of this France has called on the EU to lift an arms embargo on Syria to assist armed foreign-backed insurgents attacking the government forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the infrastructure of Syria and even civilians in order to topple the government and turn the country into a failed state. Like France, Britain is also pushing for lifting the embargo; however several EU countries disagree saying more arms would escalate the conflict and it is already in dire condition.
An interview with Michael Maloof, former Pentagon official, Washington about this issue.
Q: What is your opinion of this arming of the insurgence from the United Kingdom and France in a sense going in defiance of the EU as a whole?
Maloof: I think it’s a very dangerous escalation if its allowed to happen. Now, the EU has the embargo on until May at which time it can be modified – so I think he (Hollande) is sounding out.
But I think for France I think it’s really an effort on the president’s part to try to garner domestic support because his own popularity at home is really waning and so he’s got to reach out and try to unite the people somehow. But I think that this is a political move on his part.
We see he cannot seem to function without outside assistance. As in Mali he had to rely on the United States for assistance just to take his troops into that country.
This would be a very dangerous escalation because it would constitute another arms race within that area and it’s already a very volatile situation.
And they have no guarantee into which hands these arms will go. We’ve got al-Nusra leading the charge with the rebels up there in Damascus and they’re very, very powerful and they’re the ones that are al-Qaeda related and they’re probably going to gain the arms and there would be no control over who gets them, how they’re going to be used.
So I would agree with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov that you would be giving arms to a non-state client and it would be foolhardy to do so. And again there would be no control, no nothing over something like this.
It’s a very, very dangerous prospect and hope that the French president along with the British prime minister rethink their approach at this point.
Certainly the United States has. The United States has already said they’re not going to be giving people arms.
As it is, arms are being funneled in through Saudi Arabia ad Qatar now. And when you look at how many arms have been captured by the Syrian government – there are a tremendous number of foreign arms already that are flowing in, including from Israel.
So it’s a very, very dangerous escalatory move if it’s allowed to happen and I hope the EU maintains the suspension.
