Syria: Saudi prince calls for Syria militants to be given sophisticated weapons

Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal

Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:45PM

UPDATED

A senior member of Saudi Arabia's monarchy has called for militants fighting against the Syrian government to be given sophisticated weapons, including anti-aircraft weapons.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief and brother of the Saudi foreign minister, made the remarks on Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"What is needed are sophisticated, high-level weapons that can bring down planes, can take out tanks at a distance. This is not getting through," Reuters quoted the Saudi prince as saying.

He also admitted that his country is arming the militants fighting against the Damascus government and justified Riyadh's anti-Syrian move as "leveling the playing field".

<1>"I'm not in government so I don't have to be diplomatic. I assume we're sending weapons and if we were not sending weapons it would be terrible mistake on our part," al-Faisal said adding that "You have to level the playing field. Most of the weapons the rebels have come from captured Syrian stocks".
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the violence.

Syria says Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey as well as some Western countries are fanning the flames of violence in the country by arming and funding the terrorists.

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/01/25/285531/saudi-prince-calls-for-arming-militants/