Croatian weapons in Syrian rebel hands

Published on 27 February 2013 at 12:43

"Croatia is breaking the arms embargo against Syria," reports Belgian daily La Libre Belgique, following up on revelations made by American blogger Eliot Higgins and an investigation by the New York Times. According to the news reports, a stock of Croatian weapons, dating from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, was sold to Saudi Arabia before ending up being delivered to rebels close to the Free Syrian Army in December.

The revelations are embarrassing for Croatia, which is scheduled to join the European Union on July 1. La Libre Belgique explains that –

Croatia approved the European arms embargo and cannot, in theory, supply weapons to the forces fighting in Syria.

Europeans renewed the arms embargo on Syria for three months on February 18, the paper notes, but adds that "non-lethal material" can now be supplied to the Syrian rebels.

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The Croatian Foreign Affairs Ministry, "has remained silent after denying to the American journalists that the weapons sales had taken place," the paper reports.

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