Syrian Rebels Seek U.S. Anti-Aircraft Weapons

On May 6th, the head of the Syrian opposition said he plans to ask the U.S. for anti-aircraft missiles and will also “try to convince American officials that the weapons [will] not fall into the wrong hands.”

According to The New York Times, opposition president Ahmad Assi al-Jarba confirmed “that Syrian rebels [have] American TOW antitank missiles and said the shipment [of those missiles] had enabled the opposition to demonstrate that it was able to use and maintain control of advanced American weaponry.” 

On May 7th, Breitbart News reported that a U.S. “pilot program” to provide “small quantities of advanced weapons, including TOW missiles, to vetted, ‘moderate’ groups” in the Syrian opposition had resulted in Islamists arming themselves with American weaponry. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) noted “that the Islamic Front, a large coalition of mainly Islamist fighting groups, was using U.S. TOW missiles in clashes in Aleppo against the forces of President Bashar Al-Assad.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.