Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The CIA is said to have blocked a plan to supply Western-backed Syrian rebels with up to 70,000 assault rifles for the war against President Bashar Assad.

The Wall Street Journal said a plan by a private U.S. group to provide Russian-made light weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition to the Free Syrian Army was foiled by the CIA.

The newspaper said the CIA told Saudi Arabia not to finance the weapons deal, arranged by former Defense Department inspector-general Joseph Schmitz in 2013.

“Last summer, as his team continued laying the groundwork to arm Syrian rebels, a Saudi member of the team was approached by a CIA representative in Jordan, who told him to put the brakes on the plan, according to two people involved in the effort,” the Journal said.

In a report on May 18, the Journal said Schmitz led a group to procure and ship weapons from Ukraine to FSA. The group was said to have included two U.S-registered arms brokers and planned to obtain licenses from the State Department.

“I’m just trying to be helpful to some people that our government supports,” Schmitz said.

At one point, the newspaper said, a former U.S. defense contractor, Erik
Prince, founder of Blackwater, was asked to become involved in helping FSA.
Prince said he conditioned his support to a rebel training program.

“If the U.S. government wants us to do it, I’m glad to try to get it
going again,” Schmitz said. “But I’m not going to do anything that smacks of
sneaky or illegal.”

  Blackwater, Free Syrian Army, Joseph Schmitz, Report: CIA blocked U.S. group’s effort to arm Syrian rebels