NATO, Al-Qaeda Caught Shipping Weapons to Syrian Opposition by Sea Via Benghazi

Scene in Damascus, Syria where a bombing took place near the intelligence headquarters on March 17, 2012. For the past year Syria has been under attack by western-backed rebels who are supported by special forces from the imperialist countries., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

NATO, AL QAEDA CAUGHT SHIPPING WEAPONS TO FSA BY SEA VIA BENGHAZI

Posted on April 30, 2012
presstv.ir

More than 20 people in Syria, mostly security forces, have been killed as blasts rock the northwestern city of Idlib.

Scores more have been wounded in the explosions that targeted security buildings in the city. The attacks have been blamed on armed opposition gangs.

Meanwhile, in the capital Damascus, terrorist groups have attacked a police patrol and the Central Bank building, injuring at least four officers. Syrian media say some 174 armed gang members have laid down their arms and surrendered themselves to government forces.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Franklin Lamb, a Beirut-based international lawyer, to further talk over the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: As we hear news of these various attacks in Syria, who do you believe is responsible for the flow of arms entering that country, something that the Syrian government itself has alluded to several times?

Lamb: We have some good evidence in this developing story of Lutfallah II, the Sierra Leone vessel, that was finally taken off the Coast of Tripoli in Libya and now there is an investigation by the Lebanese army going on.

I think that this story about this ship leaving Benghazi two and a half days ago, three days ago, with arms that look very much like they were headed for Syria is a Watergate; it is nothing less than a potential Watergate-type story.

Remember [Bob] Woodward and [Carl] Bernstein followed the money. Now any good media representative should follow the weapons in this case. We know that the boat went first to Turkey, then to Egypt and then back to Lebanon.

Where is the manifest? Who was to receive those weapons? The owner is saying there were to be originally 15 containers but a source named Hassan Diab in Benghazi who claims who has witnessed the loading of that boat and claims that Qatar, who did supply those weapons, backed out and did not put the other 12 containers onboard and the reason they did not do that, they did not want to lose.

This was a gamble and they did not want to lose that many containers and some of the packages and some of the weapons in there that were clearly marked from Qatar.

So we had a situation that after the NATO supposedly stepped down but of course the NATO representatives are there and the Americans are there and French Special Forces. We know that and also Qatari officials.

What they did was pick up these weapons as best they could. Qatar ended up with them in between 3 and 5 warehouses. We are trying to pin down exactly what. Qatar had that ship loaded using now Libya as a base to arm the so-called Syrian free army to attack Syria.

You and I know and Press TV has made clear the significant differences between the situation in Libya and Syria. But one thing is fundamentally the same and that is the goal is regime change.

It was the goal against Qaddafi from day one. It is the goal against the Bashar al-Assad government today, as it was at the beginning.

This is the latest move, almost a desperation tactic by the so-called axis from Saudi Arabia, from Israel, from Qatar, Doha and also in Washington with NATO cooperation to bring about this regime change.

Why wasn’t that boat stopped on the high seas? Why didn’t Israel stop it? They usually do. You send a few protesters on a boat from Turkey and they will get killed, as it happened in the Mavi Marmara.

Why didn’t UNIFIL [The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon], whose job it is, to stop any arms, why didn’t they stand down and essentially giving a green light? Where is the American position on this?

There are some tough questions that have got to be asked and I think this is the tip of the iceberg and exposing who is fueling in a less dramatic way than John McCain wants. He is a senator, you know, and he wants armed forces or no-fly zone.

It is clear that the object now is to end the regime in Syria and this is a lifeline, they thought, going in there with weapons. I think it is a major story unfolding. It has got to be pursued and the tough questions asked.