Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia has requested thousands of U.S. anti-tank
guided missiles in a move that could help Sunni rebels in Syria.

A leading U.S. news website asserted that Saudi Arabia’s request for
15,000 TOW [tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missiles] ATGMs
could be used to bolster the flagging Sunni revolt against Syrian President
Bashar Assad.

Foreign Policy said the $1 billion Saudi order does not appear to be linked to the kingdom’s military requirements.

“It’s a very large number of missiles, including the most advanced version of the TOWs,” Jeffrey White, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, said. “The problem is: What’s the threat?”

In a report on Dec. 12, Foreign Policy said the Syrian rebels were desperate for ATGMs. Riyad has already supplied Croatian anti-tank weapons to and was training Syrian rebels in Jordan. The rebels were said to have been deploying the Chinese-origin HJ-8 ATGM.

Analysts said Saudi Arabia, which bought more than $75 billion worth of U.S. weapons since 2004, was unlikely to send the TOWs to the Syrian rebels. Instead, the new missiles could enable Riyad to exhaust its current ATGM stockpile.

“I would speculate that with an order of this size, the Saudis were
flushing their current stocks in the direction of the opposition and
replacing them with new munitions,” former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia,
Charles Freeman, said.

  Bashar Assad, Charles Freeman, Foreign Policy website, Report: Saudi anti-tank missile order could bolster Syrian rebels, TWO anti-tank guided missiles