Syria Militant Vows Revenge for Alleged Gas Attack.

Syria Militant Vows Revenge for Alleged Gas Attack.

In this photo taken on a government organized media tour,

Syrian army soldiers are seen deployed in the Jobar

neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013.

Syrian state media accused rebels of using chemical arms on

Saturday against government troops trying to storm a contested

neighborhood of Damascus, claiming a major army offensive

in recent days had forced the opposition fighters to resort to

such weapons "as their last card." State TV broadcast images

of plastic jugs, gas masks, vials of an unspecified medication,

explosives and other items that it said were seized from rebel

hideouts. It did not, however, show any video of soldiers

reportedly affected by toxic gas in the fighting in the Jobar

neighborhood of Damascus. (AP Photo)

AMMAN | Jordan | 26 Aug 2013 ::  The leader of an al-Qaida linked militia fighting to overthrow the Syrian government has vowed to take revenge for what he says was Damascus’ use of chemical weapons that killed hundreds of people.

Jabhat al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani’s comments came in an audio recording posted Sunday on a militant website that usually carries al-Qaida and similar groups’ statements. It also appeared on the group’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The authenticity of the claim could not be immediately verified.

Al-Golani said he plans to target Shiite Muslim villages. President Bashar Assad’s regime is dominated by the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Last Wednesday’s alleged chemical attack in a suburb of Damascus prompted U.S. naval forces to move closer to Syria as President Barack Obama considers a military response.(Courtesy:Epoch Time)

Arms Shipments Seen From Sudan to Syria Rebels.

Arms Shipments Seen From Sudan to Syria Rebels.

13 Aug 2013 :: Syrian rebels, frustrated by the West’s reluctance to provide arms, have found a supplier in an unlikely source: Sudan, a country that has been under international arms embargoes and maintains close ties with a stalwart backer of the Syrian government, Iran.

In deals that have not been publicly acknowledged, Western officials and Syrian rebels say, Sudan’s government sold Sudanese- and Chinese-made arms to Qatar, which arranged delivery through Turkey to the rebels.

The shipments included antiaircraft missiles and newly manufactured small-arms cartridges, which were seen on the battlefield in Syria — all of which have helped the rebels combat the Syrian government’s better-armed forces and loyalist militias.

Emerging evidence that Sudan has fed the secretive arms pipeline to rebels adds to a growing body of knowledge about where the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria is getting its military equipment, often paid for by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia or other sympathetic donors.

While it is unclear how pivotal the weapons have been in the nearly three-year-old civil war, they have helped sustain the opposition against government forces emboldened by aid from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

Sudan’s involvement adds yet another complication to a civil war that has long defied a diplomatic resolution. The battle has evolved into a proxy fight for regional influence between global powers, regional players and religious sects. In Sudan’s case, it has a connection with the majority Sunni rebels, and a potentially lucrative financial stake in prosecuting the war.(Copy From:The Times of Israel )