Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — The Sunni rebel movement has urged foreign supporters for
surface-to-air missiles in the war against the regime of Syrian President
Bashar Assad.

The Free Syrian Army said the rebel force requires shoulder-fired air
defense systems to counter Assad’s fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. FSA said
it has not received significant weapons from such countries as Qatar and
Saudi Arabia.

“We are in dire need of sniper rifles and silencers as well as advanced communication equipment that cannot be hacked and shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft weaponry,” FSA operations commander Col. Khalid Habous said.

In 2012, the Syrian military increased air operations against the
rebels. FSA has reported operations by Russian-origin Mi-24 attack helicopters and Iranian- and Russian-origin unmanned aerial vehicles in central and northern Syria.

Habous did not confirm reports that FSA and other rebel forces were receiving weapons and other assistance from Gulf Cooperation Council states. He said FSA, whose commander in Damascus was captured in late March, has been forced to raid Syrian Army arsenals for weapons and ammunition.

“We have sufficient food, medicines and means of treating casualties,
thank God,” Habousi said in an interview with the Saudi-owned A-Sharq Al
Awsat on April 3.

In addition to the GCC, NATO states said they would send non-lethal
assistance to the Syrian rebels, particularly tactical and satellite
communications. But FSA has not confirmed any shipments by Britain, France
or the United States.

Habous also reported increased military intervention by Iran and its
proxies to save the Assad regime. He said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps and Hizbullah were augmenting Assad ground operations, particularly in
the Damascus area.

“We are aware of the involvement of Hizbullah elements from the traces
they leave which reveals their identity — on the walls of mosques and
houses they break into, the bodies of our children and the testimony of
people who confirm these elements speak in a Lebanese accent,” Habous said.

  Bashar Assad, Col. Khalid Habous, Free Syrian Army, Gulf Cooperation Council, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, operations commander says, silencers, surface-to-air missiles, Syrian rebels ‘in dire need’ of more firepower, Syrian rebels ‘in dire need’ of sniper rifles