Konflikten i Syrien

Turkey will sign S-400 deal with Russia this week.

Two of four Turkey's S-400 batteries to be deployed for the #Syria border,one Mediterranean areas,one for the Marmara,Bosphorus,Black Sea,Aegean regions security
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Sophisticated weapons the U.S. military secretly provided to Syrian rebels quickly fell into the hands of the Islamic State, a study released Thursday disclosed.

The report said the Islamic State’s possession of these weapons remains a threat to the U.S.-led coalition still operating against the terror group in Iraq and Syria.

The arms included anti-tank weapons purchased by the United States that ended up in possession of the Islamic State within two months of leaving the factory, according to the study by Conflict Armament Research, an organization that tracks arms shipments. The study was funded by the European Union and German government.

Efforts by the United States and other countries to supply weapons to rebel groups “have significantly augmented the quantity and quality of weapons available to (Islamic State) forces,” the report concluded.
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It has long been known that ISIS captured a huge amount of American weapons —including tanks and artillery — when the militant group swept into Iraq from Syria in 2014 and routed several divisions of Iraqi soldiers, many who abandoned their weapons and fled.

The new study raises questions about a different source for weapons: arms secretly sent to rebel factions fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad in his long civil war. The covert CIA program, begun by the Obama administration in 2013, was ended earlier this year by President Trump. Saudi Arabia, which — like the U.S. — strongly opposes Assad, also supplies weapons to rebel groups.

The CIA declined to comment on the report.
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Most of the weapons secretly sent to factions in Syria were purchased by the United States and Saudi Arabia from arms manufactured in Eastern Europe. The U.S. government contracts with private companies who make the overseas purchases.

That's necessary because most militants in Iraq and Syria use AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades made in former Soviet bloc countries or China. Those weapons are not compatible with most U.S.-manufactured ammunition and other supplies.

The report said the way the U.S. government purchased the weapons raised troubling concerns about controlling arms sales.

Some weapons were diverted to Syria, even though the U.S. or Saudi Arabia may have signed a contract not to transfer the weapons after purchasing them, the report said.

This report is the result of more than three years of field investigation into Islamic State supply chains. It presents an analysis of more than 40,000 items recovered from the group between 2014 and 2017. These items encompass weapons, ammunition, and the traceable components and chemical precursors used by the group to manufacture improvised explosive devices.

Den som inte inser att krisen i Syrien inte är en fråga om om demokrati eller diktatur är naiv på gränsen till dum - det handlar om makt, herravälde och pengar.

This transfer, in addition to others featured in this report, illustrates how the United States has relied on Eastern European stockpiles to arm partner forces. Many of the weapons used by both Iraqi security forces and IS forces may have been procured by US-based companies and brokers working under government contracts. Some of these brokers, including Blane International Group, continue to procure and supply weapons on behalf of the US government. On 15 December 2015, Blane International Group was awarded a five-year basic ordering agreement to fulfil requirements for the US Special Operations Command.66

Media sources have reported that basic ordering agreements were also awarded to other US companies to procure weapons for armed groups in Syria. Purple Shovel has been linked to weapons procurement for Syrian armed opposition factions,67 Culmen International fulfilled a US Department of the Army contract in September 2016 for the procurement of PKMS machine guns for the Syrian Train and Equip Fund for USD 3.9 million,68 and UDC USA fulfilled a US Department of the Army contract for the procurement of weapons for the same Fund for USD 939,248.69

In summary, evidence collected by CAR indicates that the United States has repeatedly diverted EU-manufactured weapons and ammunition to opposition forces in the Syrian conflict. IS forces rapidly gained custody of significant quantities of this materiel. CAR immediately alerted EU manufacturing states to these instances of diversion. The states concerned have confirmed that, in cases where end-user agreements with the United States contained a non-retransfer clause, they consider that the United States diverted the transfers.

In other cases, the legality of supply is less clear. For example, at least one EU Member State provided substantial quantities of materiel to the United States under IICs. These certificates did not include a non-retransfer clause and the
Unites States is consequently free to re-export the materiel without restriction. CAR concludes that the use of IICs is not an effective way to deter the post-export diversion of weapons.

Finally, some of the ammunition (PG-7-pattern rockets) traced by CAR to transfers made to the United States has been systematically removed from its factory boxes and repackaged post-export. It is currently unclear why this occurred. Although repackaging is a common means of concealing (at first glance) the provenance of materiel, there are other plausible reasons why parties may have repackaged ammunition, including: a requirement to ‘homogenise’ packaging for the purposes of storing otherwise diversely packed ammunition types; replacing damaged packaging; or repackaging loose ammunition prior to export. However, the ammunition in question had not been re-boxed, but sealed in polythene bags. The bags, while protecting the ammunition from some environmental degradation (mainly resulting from moisture), would not provide protection from impact during handling. Neither the US government, nor the US commercial entities involved in these transfers have replied to formal trace requests issued by CAR.

Nearly a third of all weapons used by Isil on the battlefield were manufactured in the European Union, according to the most thorough investigation yet into how the jihadist group acquired its vast arsenal.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) militants relied heavily on guns and ammunition produced by Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Germany, a report released on Thursday by Conflict Armament Research (CAR), an international organisation that documents weapons trafficking in war zones, revealed.

The only bigger producer of weapons used by the group was found to be China.

The revelation sits uncomfortably with the EU’s effort to degrade the group’s military capacity, CAR researchers say, and highlights how easily weapons can end up in the wrong hands in "messy" conflicts.