Anti-aircraft missiles reach Syrian rebels

The Syrian Free Army (SFA) have said that Saudi Arabia has sent them military supplies to use in their fight with forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the Turkish news agency Anatolia said on Tuesday.

Anatolia said that the military supplies mainly consist of anti-aircraft missiles.

The Turkish news agency reported that a source close to the Joint Staff Committee of the FSA said: “The shipment was handed to Joint Chief of Staff Committee Brigadier Salim Edris in the wake of Qusair city falling into the hands of al-Assad’s army last week.”

Recently, fierce fighting broke out in al-Qusair in Homs, to the west of Damascus, between al-Assad’s forces and Hezbollah on one side, and FSA force on the other. The battle ended with the city falling into the hands of al-Assad and Hezbollah forces and a huge number of reported casualties.

Anatolia’s reporter said that the military supplies were sent to the FSA in order to avoid the fall of more cities.

At the end of last week, Cairo hosted a conference with a wide range of Muslim scholars, including Saudis, in support of the Syrian revolution. The conference announced jihad against the al-Assad regime in Syria and called for militarising the FSA.