SNC wants to deliver arms to Syria rebels

The Syrian National Council wants to organise arms deliveries from foreign countries to Syrian rebels through its new military bureau, its chief Burhan Ghalioun said on Thursday. “We know that some countries have expressed a desire to arm the revolutionaries. The SNC, via its military bureau, wanted to organise this flow to avoid direct arms deliveries from particular countries,” he said. “The SNC will be this link between those who want to help and the revolutionaries. It is out of the question that arms go into Syria in confusion,” he said. The SNC announced Wednesday it was setting up the bureau to supervise the “armed resistance” against the regime, as Syrian troops launched a ground assault on a rebel-held district of the flashpoint city of Homs. Ghalioun said the military bureau would bring together the rebel Free Syrian Army and other groups of deserters. “This military bureau will be located as close as possible to the field of action, probably in Turkey,” Ghalioun said. “Its mission will be to see which arms are necessary and for which missions,” he said. “We will determine our requests, our needs for arms and we will see which country to get them from. “This is about defending civilians, not launching a war. This is about protecting the people’s peaceful revolution. That is the defensive mission given to our armed groups.”