Syrian National Council members in Saudi Arabia are coordinating with tribes
along the borders of Syria to smuggle weapons to the Free Syrian Army. The
Al-Fawarha, Bani Khaled and Al-Turki clans just inside the Lebanese border are
particularly active, playing a key role in supplying arms, SNC members
say.
Syrian National Council member Muhammad Mazeed Al-Tarkawi, who is
based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, told the Saudi-based Arab News recently that
several tribes are ferrying weapons to Syria on roads through Turkey, Iraq and
Jordan. Al-Tarkawi also said that the Al-Rafayah and Horan tribes in Jordan are
also funneling arms to Syria from Jordan. From Iraq, the Al-Hasaka and Al-Raqqa
clans are providing support, but no weapons.
The estimate of the number
of people who have been killed in the 16 months of violence in Syria is nearing
18,000 and the conflict has been designated a civil war by the International
Committee for the Red Cross. A Syrian expatriate living in Jeddah and involved
in the SNC’s activities said the council is working with the tribes. He spoke on
the condition that he remain anonymous.
“There is coordination among
the various clans on the Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia borders to
deliver thousands of rounds of ammunition, sniper rifles and anti-armor
missiles,” he told The Media Line. “About 20 percent of all the weapons going to
Syria are coming from tribes.”
Delivery across the border is further
arranged by covert US personnel in Turkey with Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood acting
as a go-between and financing coming from Qatar, Turkey and Saudi
Arabia.
Although some Saudi private citizens provide financing, the Saudi
government has taken no official position in arming rebels despite its support
of the Free Syrian Army’s campaign to overthrow the Bashar Assad regime. The
government sees Assad’s close relationship to Iran a threat to Saudi Arabia’s
interests. The Saudi press almost daily denounces Assad as a tyrant and
murderer.
But Saudi Arabia does not want to get involved in the weapons
export business and prefers diplomatic channels to aid rebels. The government
often pressures its clerics to suspend fund-raising drives to arm opposition
forces because Saudi leaders fear money will be diverted to al-Qaida operatives
inside Syria.
However, the smuggling operations follow a request from
Saudi King Abdullah in March for Jordan to open its borders to permit the
shipment of weapons into Syria. King Abdullah had promised economic assistance
in exchange for Jordan’s cooperation. Saudi Arabia already provides a generous
aid package to Jordan. In 2011, it gave the country nearly $1.5 billion to ease
its budget deficit.
Tribe members have reported that security along the
Jordan-Syria border still remains tight, making deliveries to opposition forces
difficult, said the SNC official in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the flow of arms
from Turkey have slowed considerably as border security tightened since Syria
shot down a Turkish fighter jet in June, he said.
Saudi Arabia is home
to an estimated 400,000 Syrian expatriates who work as engineers, physicians and
mostly mid-level managers in private companies. Nearly half of the Syrian expat
community lives in Jeddah, and about 30 are members of the SNC. The SNC is said
to represent most of the Syrian expatriate community.
Syrian expats
sending aid to the Free Syrian Army have operated inside Saudi Arabia with
relative impunity. “We haven’t seen anything from the Syrian citizens here
that requires special attention from us in terms of investigating their
activities involving the trouble in Syria,” said a Saudi Ministry of Interior
official, who spoke to The Media Line on the condition his name not be
published.
In addition to coordinating efforts to send weapons home,
Syrian expats have established bazaars in several Jeddah neighborhoods,
including Old Jeddah, to raise money to send food and medical supplies to towns
and villages hit by violence.
Mohamad Ramadan, 31, a Syrian living in
Jeddah, said only a small fraction of the Syrians in Saudi Arabia support Assad. “I’d say maybe 3 percent of the Syrians living here are for that crazy
man. But that is enough to make us stay away from the Syrian consulate. We just
can’t trust them.”
But Yalda, 27, a Syrian living in Jeddah and who
described herself as an Assad loyalist, said the percentage of pro-government
supporters are probably higher, but they keep a low profile to avoid reprisals
from Free Syrian Army sympathizers.
“The people against our government
are portrayed as heroes, but did anyone stop to think where those weapons go
to?” Yalda said. “Except for the SNC, the opposition is not identified. Those
weapons are going to gangsters and terrorists. They are not going to help free
anybody.”
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