Syria: "Qatar, Saudi Arabia? More talking, only," he says.
The most senior commander of the Free Syrian Army in the province sits sweating in front of an olive wood-fired stove. He’s come to meet us, but verifies our identities forensically before revealing his own. He’s young, smart, and close to despair. "We have no weapons - we have nothing to fight the Syrian army," he says.
The black market price for a Kalashnikov is now $1,300, a single bullet is $3. He tells us that most of their rifles have come from Iraq, but even there Damascus has staged an intervention – he believes Assad has an "under the table agreement" with the Iraqi government to allow only old weapons through the smuggling network. When they unwrap their consignments, the weapons are worn out, the ammunition past its expiry date.
...
The FSA tells me all that has reached them so far is some small cash donations – but you can’t fight with cash if no-one will sell you the weapons, and so far none of Syria’s neighbours have allowed any significant rise in cross-border smuggling, let alone a legitimate weapons trade. It has bred a weary cynicism.
"Turkey talks, but does nothing to help," he says. "Qatar, Saudi Arabia? More talking, only," he says.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2012/03/12/inside-idlib-assad-crackdown-grows-ferocity
Btw, the "tactical" retreat in Homs was because the SFA had run out of ammunition.
