Iran warns arming Syrian rebels will increase risk of terrorism

[AntiFascist]

Source: Digital Journal

Tehran- As European nations consider lifting the arms embargo to the Syrian opposition, Iran, a traditional ally of Syria, warns that arming the rebels could further destabilize the region and increase the risks of terrorism.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said “Some countries envisage arming the opposition with heavy and semi-heavy weaponry,” Al Arabiya reported. He added "In reality, they seek to legitimize publicly what they have been doing in secret."

Salehi went on to warn that sending arms to the Syrian opposition would be “a clear interference in the affairs of an independent country. It will spread insecurity, the risk of terrorism and organized violence in all of the region.”

...

Iran's warning has some basis as there are elements involved in the Syrian opposition that have links to international terrorism. Extreme Salafists, with links to al-Qaeda, are operating within Syria, along with Kosovo Albanians and Libyans linked to LIFG. Weapons used in the Libyan conflict have been smuggled into Syria.



Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/337196

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Warning: right-wing spin against Obama based on US support of LIFG:

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group is listed by our National Counterterrorism Center and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism as a “Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.” The United Nations Security Council likewise lists the LIFG as an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group. Nevertheless, Abdelhakim Belhadj and the LIFG received blessings (and aid) from the Obama administration. After Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown, Belhadj was installed as the chief of the Military Council in the new U.S.-backed “rebel” regime in Tripoli. And Belhadj is only one of several notorious terrorists aided by the United States in our “humanitarian intervention” in Libya.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/13670-benghazigate-the-disaster-that-should-have-sunk-obama-%E2%80%94-and-still-could

[pinboy3niner]

1. Wasn't the former military jurisdiction of Belhadj limited to Tripoli?

And didn't he resign his military post?

Libya's Belhadj quits military post for politics
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18078436

[AntiFascist]

3. Background on Belhadj in this Telegraph article...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8919057/Leading-Libyan-Islamist-met-Free-Syrian-Army-opposition-group.html

Abdulhakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, "met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey," said a military official working with Mr Belhadj. "Mustafa Abdul Jalil (the interim Libyan president) sent him there."

The "covert operation" was immediately laid bare when a rival Libyan rebel brigade detained Belhaj at Tripoli airport, accused him of travelling on a fake passport, and declared they would jail the senior military leader.

Only a letter from the country's interim president was enough to persuade them to let him leave the country.

The meetings came as a sign of a growing ties between Libya's fledgling government and the Syrian opposition. The Daily Telegraph on Saturday revealed that the new Libyan authorities had offered money and weapons to the growing insurgency against Bashar al-Assad.

[pinboy3niner]

4. His background is well-known

And it was the subject of many media reports during the Libyan Revolution and afterward.

But some continue to portray him as a Libyan military official months after he stepped down from the Tripoli post.

[zellie]

2. Iran is worried about Terrorism now ?

The country that's given exporting terrorism a new level of depravity is suddenly worried about terrorism .

Blowback?

[Daniel537]

5. "Terrorism" is the excuse all governments use to strenghten their hands.

Whether its neo-cons here in the US after 9/11, or the Iranian version of our neo-cons, its what they always do to screw the "little people" and supplant our rights.

[JackRiddler]

7. No country has exported more terrorism in recent years...

than the United States - government, that is. Which notably has sponsored the perpetrators of real-life terrorist attacks in Iran (the MEK) with real-life deaths. Although this group is still on the State Department's list of terrorist groups. There was also some winking and crowing about the alleged STUXNET attack and the murders of Iranian nuclear scientists. And of course the export of Libyan fighters to Syria, although these same fighters would be called "Al-Qaeda" in any context where they are not working on behalf of US "interests." This is unlike Iran, which has not sponsored any attacks on the US.

Thanks for repeating the FOXNEWS line, though.

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. Right-wing spin about the LIFG? What is incorrect in the paragraph you posted?

[AntiFascist]

8. The "spin" is in the New American article itself...

However, what is far more damning for President Obama, and potentially far more damaging politically, is the charge that the so-called U.S. consulate in Benghazi was actually a staging center utilized by the administration for meetings between Ambassador Stevens and militant jihadist leaders and as a distribution center for supplying weapons to these anti-American jihadists, including al-Qaeda affiliates.

Obama should receive all of the blame, according to the article, rather than Patraeus.

[yurbud]

9. Isn't it comforting when our "enemies" sound more sane than our own gov't?