Despite a ceasefire in Syria, the United States is delivering tons of weapons to al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and other Islamist groups.
The shipments are detailed in a report released by IHS Jane’s 360 0n Thursday. Jane’s cites documents posted on the US government’s Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website.
“The FBO has released two solicitations in recent months looking for shipping companies to transport explosive material from Eastern Europe to the Jordanian port of Aqaba on behalf of the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command,” write Jeremy Binnie and Neil Gibson.
Solicitations for a contractor to ship 81 containers of cargo that included explosive material from Constanta in Bulgaria to Aqaba appeared on November 3.
The solicitation was subsequently updated with a detailed packing list indicating the cargo had a total weight of 994 tons. Around half of the shipment was to be unloaded at Agalar, a military pier near the Turkish town of Tasucu, and the other half at Aqaba.
The Eastern European weapons include AK-47 rifles, PKM general-purpose machine guns, DShK heavy machine guns, RPG-7 rocket launchers, and 9K111M Faktoria anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) systems, according to Jane’s.
“These weapons are going to Syria where, as has been reported for years by several independent sources, half of them go directly to al-Qaeda,” writes Moon of Alabama.
Source: Federal Business Opportunities: 994 Tons of Weapons Shipped to al-Qaeda in Syria