Bandar meets MI6 chief on Syria

  Saudi National Security Council Secretary and Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan has recently had a secret meeting with UK’s MI6 Director Sir Robert John Sawers to brief him on Riyadh’s support for the militants fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, sources disclosed on Sunday. "At the meeting, the Saudi intelligence chief briefed Sawers on Riyadh's latest moves on Syria, including the supply of over 400 tons of weapons to the militants in Syria via Turkey," an informed source, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of his information, told FNA. “ … we have made the Syrian army engage in a civil war and of course this strategic mission could not be accomplished without your (MI6) cooperation,” the source quoted Prince Bandar as saying during the meeting. "At the meeting, Prince Bandar underlined that Britain, Israel and their allies should be thankful to his country's efforts and plans in Syria," the source said. "The Prince also reminded the different advantages of the Saudi plan in Syria, saying that extremist groups, including the Salafis, have been engaged in the war in Syria and killed in there, while the Lebanese Hezbollah movement has also been pushed into direct confrontation with radical Sunni Muslims," he added. Asked by Sawers if Riyadh is concerned over the backfiring of the extremist groups who have been armed and sent to Syria, Prince Bandar said all his country's efforts are aimed at "providing security for us and our allies and I assure (you) that I have the power to harness these reinforced streams, given my over 30-year-long experience in controlling and directing these Jihadi groups”. Last week, a political analyst underlined that Prince Bandar is behind the unrests created in most of the countries in the Middle East. “The Pressures by Prince Bandar for restoring the battlefield balance in the interest of terrorists in Syria and a political balance in Lebanon helped failure of talks between Washington and Damascus,” Syrian political analyst Akram Ali Al-Ahmad told FNA on Sunday. “Saudi Arabia has taken charge of the leadership of the front against the resistance axis to proceed with the regional affairs according to the plans and programs the US and Saudi Arabia,” he added. The sources noted that Bandar’s mercenaries have had special terrorist trainings in camps of the al-Nusra Front terrorist group and the so-called Free Syrian Army in Syria. In June, the Lebanese newspaper Assafir reported that Prince Bandar supervised the operations of providing the foreign-backed militants fighting the Syrian government, with German anti-aircraft missiles in Antakia. Arab sources told Assafir that Prince Bandar Bin Sultan supervised supplying the militant groups in Syria in June with a batch of heavy weapons that includes mainly German anti-aircraft missiles in Antakia before the militants distributed the weapons over their different groups in Aleppo, Homs, Damascus, and Idleb. The sources added that Bandar is seeking an arm deal with France to provide the Syrian militants with French anti-aircraft missiles, yet the French expressed their concerns about their strategic interests, and refused to be the sole provider of weapons for the militants, calling on to share these burdens.