Special to WorldTribune.com

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Sunni majority has become a leading contributor to
the revolt in neighboring Syria.

Diplomats and officials agreed that Sunni tribal leaders were helping
organize a massive flow of weapons and fighters from Iraq to Syria. They
said the flow stemmed from several Iraqi cities, including Qaim in the west
and Mosul in the north.

“There is money pouring in from Gulf Arab sheiks for this effort and weapons in Iraq are easy to obtain,” a diplomat said.

Most of the weapons have been purchased in Anbar, the largest province of Iraq and which borders Jordan and Syria. The weapons included mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, meant for transport by smugglers through the vast desert to Syria. The closest cities for the smugglers, who work through the border crossing at Rabia, have been Dir El Zour, Haseka and Qamishli.

Sunni tribes in western Iraq have been linked by marriage to their counterparts in neighboring Jordan and Syria. But the diplomats said Gulf money has been pouring into Anbar and Mosul as part of a Gulf Arab effort to open an eastern front against the Assad regime.

“There is no security on the other side [Syria] so the risk is small,”
the diplomat said.

But the flow of weapons and fighters from Iraq, believed to have begun
in November 2011, has not significantly bolstered Sunni rebels. Diplomats
cited the remote Iraqi border, hundreds of kilometers away from any major
Syrian city or vital regime site.

“The heart of the regime is the Damascus-Aleppo axis, about 400
kilometers away from the Iraqi border,” an official said. “So, you have all
these weapons and even fighters, but there isn’t much you can do with them.”

Al Qaida in Iraq has also joined the Sunni revolt. The diplomats said Al
Qaida networks in such provinces as Anbar, Diyala and Saleh Eddin were
recruiting fighters to attack the Assad regime.

“We have intelligence information that Iraqi jihadists have gone to
Syria,” Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Assadi said.

  Al Qaida, border crossing at Rabia, Gulf cash to Sunnis in Iraq buys flood of weapons to Syrian rebels, Iraq Interior Minister Adnan Assadi, Mosul, Sunni tribal leaders in Iraq