Debka: Obama secretly approved shipment of anti-tank arms to Syria

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Published time: May 22, 2012 18:11
Edited time: May 22, 2012 22:11

This week’s NATO and G-8 Summits came and went without participating nations agreeing on a way to handle the uprising in Syria, but it is now being reported that the US may already be taking the matter into their own hands.

Military sources speaking with Israel’s Debka news agency report that the administration of US President Barack Obama has cut a deal with foreign intelligence that involves equipping Syrian rebels with modern anti-tank missiles. After 14 months of ongoing battles between the country’s leader, Bashar al-Assad, and opposition to his regime, suddenly the rebel forces are responding with weaponry reportedly sent with the blessing of President Obama.

Sources close to the matter speaking on condition of anonymity tell Debka that a recent rash of explosions decimating Assad’s fleet of heavy T-72 tanks can be credited to “third generation” anti-tank weapons, specifically 9K115-2 Metis-M and Kornet E, supplied by US forces. According to the source, the firepower is being extended by way of Saudi and Qatari intelligence agencies under the urging of America’s commander-in-chief sent through a secret message.

Rumors of weaponry being supplied by America’s allies comes only days after President Obama told a members at this weekend’s G-8 Summit at Camp David, Maryland that “Bashar al-Assad must leave power.” Days later at Chicago, Illinois’ NATO meeting, however, those member nations did not formally agree to a plan to oust the leader.

Speaking from the Windy City this weekend, NATO Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the organization had "no intention" of using military strikes to oust Assad.

In March, President Obama told the Atlantic Weekly, “It is our estimation that [Assad’s] days are numbered – it’s a matter not of if, but when.” Despite this promise, however, the Syrian leader has continuously embroiled himself against rebels in an ongoing series of skirmishes that have left thousands dead since last year.