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| Will Syria become another Libya? |
SYRIA'S Islamist rebels have received new types of weapons that could "change the course of the battle," a rebel spokesman said on Friday, as troops tried to oust opposition fighters from a Damascus district.
The announcement came a day before a meeting in Qatar of the "Friends of Syria" group of nations that back the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The so-called "Friends of Syria" include the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt.
"We have received quantities of new types of weapons, including some that we asked for and that we believe will change the course of the battle on the ground," Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Muqdad asserted.
"We have begun distributing them on the front lines; they will be in the hands of professional officers and FSA fighters," added Muqdad, a media and political coordinator for the FSA.
He said the Friends of Syria meeting was expected to officially announce on Saturday its members would arm the rebels.
Muqdad declined to specify what weapons had been received or when they had arrived, but added that a new shipment was expected in the coming days.
He said rebels had asked for "deterrent weapons," meaning "anti-aircraft weapons, anti-tank weapons, as well as ammunition."
The apparent influx of weapons comes after the United States said it would provide rebel forces with "military support," although it has declined to outline what that might entail.
"The weapons will be used for one objective, which is to fight the regime of Bashar al-Assad," Muqdad insisted.
"They will be collected after the fall of the regime (much like "they have been collected" in Libya, we presume), we have made this commitment to the friends and brotherly countries" that supplied them, he said.
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