A new report, authored by two investigative news outlets in Eastern Europe, has revealed that the United States has lead a covert program to coordinate arms sales between some Eastern and Central European countries to the restive Middle East.
The investigative bodies, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project said this role played by the United States has ensured that around $1.3bn of Arms have been sold from Eastern and Central Europe to the Middle East. The investigators titled the damning report, Making a Killing: The 1.2 Billion Euros Arms Pipeline to Middle East. They took over one year to investigate the issue.
According to the report, the majority of the arms were sent to Syria and Yemen. Some of the weapons are said to have ended up in the hands of terrorist organizations, such as the so-called Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Al-Nusra Front.
The investigative journalists reviewed the sale of arms from Eastern and Central Europe to the Middle East, from 2012 to 2016. They also interviewed people (known and anonymous) who are part or closely monitoring the ongoing war in the Middle East. It was found that two countries, Croatia and the Czech Republic have been channeling their arms to the region since 2012.
These two countries are said to be the trailblazers of the arms sale to the Middle East. Apart from these two countries, others such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia are also said to be taking part of the arms sale. In all these countries, it is said their governments are well aware of where their military hardware is going. The United States is said to be the facilitator, playing the middleman role between the buyers and the sellers.
The report revealed that since the conflict began in the Middle East, it has become a routine practice for cargo planes to take off from airfields in Eastern Europe, carrying deadly weapons to the Middle East. Two countries, Turkey and Saudi Arabia were also identified as being the receivers of the weapons. From Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the arms will then be distributed to rebels in Syria, Yemen and other places where fighting is going on in the region. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are also said to be part of the buyers.
However, the report bodily stated that most of the weapons are sent to Saudi Arabia. It is said Saudi Arabia, with the help of the United States, has so far secured some 18,500 rocket launchers, 10,000 AK-47 guns, 300 tanks, and 250 anti-aircraft guns, among other weapons and ammunition from the sellers in Central and Eastern Europe.
When the weapons land in these countries, it is then directed to the war zones. The former United States ambassador to Syria, Robert Stephen Ford admitted to the investigators that the weapons are sent to the war zones via a secret command facility known as the Military Operation Centers (MOCs), in Jordan and Turkey.
From the MOCs, the arms are reportedly delivered by land to the Syrian border, or air-dropped by military planes. Some of those are reportedly intended for use by the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
One anonymous FSA commander from Aleppo told the journalists: “We don’t care about the country of origin, we just know it is from Eastern Europe.”
Honestly, Ford admitted that the trade of the weapons is being coordinated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency through its secret centers in Turkey, Jordan, and other Gulf States.
He also said when it becomes necessary; the United States Department of Defense Special Operations Command (SOCOM) buys the weapons directly from the sellers, supplying it to fighters in Syria and Yemen.
Apart from this confession by Ford, the investigators also uncovered evidence from other secret sources, where SOCOM has commissioned several cargo ships from ports in Romania and Bulgaria, delivering some 4,700 tons of arms and ammunition, including heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, mortars, and grenades to Syria.
Amnesty International’s Arms Control Researcher, Patrick Wilcken said in the report: “The evidence points towards systematic diversion of weapons to armed groups accused of committing serious human rights violations. If this is the case, the transfers are illegal under the ATT (United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty) and other international law.”
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