12/07/2013 10:48
Anti-Assad rebels say U.S. arms needed, vow to control distribution
Syria's opposition said on Thursday that it was concerned U.S. lawmakers had succeeded in holding up U.S. weapons deliveries to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and repeated assurances the arms will not go to Islamist militants, Reuters reported.
Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees have expressed reservations over the Obama administration's intentions to support the insurgents by sending them military hardware, fearing the weapons would fall into the wrong hands.
But none of the military aid has arrived, an official from an Arab country and Syrian opposition sources told Reuters.
"The Syrian Coalition and the Free Syrian Army have already introduced the necessary measures to ensure full and comprehensive vetting of all armed forces under our command," the coalition added in a news release. "We will strictly enforce these controls to ensure that weapons remain in the control of moderate opposition forces."
The White House announced in June that it would arm vetted groups of Syrian rebels, after avoiding involvement in the two-year-old conflict the United Nations said this week has killed more than 100,000 people.
The coalition said that Assad's allies Russia and Iran have not withheld supplies to Syrian government forces.