Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Syrian rebels have begun receiving arms supplies to block
the offensive of President Bashar Assad in the north.

Rebel sources said the United States has sent weapons and other
supplies to the Free Syrian Army. They said the supplies have reached FSA
units in northern Syria from Turkey in mid-June.

“FSA units have been receiving anti-tank and other weapons in the Aleppo region,” a source said. “More and heavier weapons are expected imminently.”

FSA said the arms shipments ended a two-month suspension in supplies to the rebels in the Aleppo region. They said the rebels would soon receive the
OSA 9K33 anti-aircraft, or the SA-8, mobile air defense system.

“The first batch of arms delivered to the FSA will include 102 OSA anti-aircraft missiles, to be followed by another 270,” an FSA senior officer told the Saudi-owned A-Sharq Al Awsat on June 16.

Saudi Arabia was also preparing to ship French-origin Mistral
man-portable air defense system to the rebels. The German weekly Der Spiegel
reported that Mistral was meant to intercept low-flying aircraft, including
Syrian military helicopters.

The sources said the latest weapons to the rebels were arranged by Saudi
Arabia in cooperation with the United States. They said President Barack
Obama’s announcement of military supplies to the Syrian rebels would result
in a massive flow of arms to FSA and other units.

The anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles began arriving as Assad’s
military and security forces, backed by 2,000 Hizbullah troops, attacked
Aleppo. The sources said fighting continued to be heavy in the eastern
portion of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria.

“Assad’s forces and Hizbullah are trying to control northern rural
Aleppo, but they are being repelled and dealt heavy losses,” Col. Abdul
Jabar Al Okeidi, an FSA commander, said. “Aleppo will turn into the grave of
these Hizbullah devils.”

In an interview to the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite channel, Al
Okeidi said the rebels were entrenched in Aleppo. He said the rebels, deemed
better organized than in Qusair, were also receiving supplies and other
logistical support.

“Aleppo and Qusair are different,” Al Okeidi said. “In Qusair we were
surrounded by villages that had been occupied by Hizbullah and by loyalist
areas. We did not even have a place to take our wounded. In Aleppo we have a
strategic depth and logistical support and we are better organized.”

  Aleppo, Bashar Assad, Col. Abdul Jabar Al Okeidi, Free Syrian Army, Rebels say U.S. weapons have finally reached units in northern Syria, SA-8 mobile air defense system