Dec. 27 2016 – Russia enraged at U.S. arming Syrian rebels with ManPADS

from Washington Times

The Russian Foreign Ministry declared U.S. intentions to provide Syrian “rebels” fighting the Assad regime in the Syrian Civil War as a “hostile move.” Barack Obama signed the 2017 Defense Authorization bill on Dec. 23rd of this year. The bill provides authorization for the Department of Defense to arm the rebels with shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles or ManPADS.

The Russians have a long memory of the Stinger missiles that were provided by the CIA to the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan, which turned the tide of the conflict and forced Soviet withdrawal from the country.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday regarding the missiles falling into the hands of the Islamic State, “Perhaps, they even expect this to happen, since they actually sponsor the Jabhat al-Nusra [terrorist group, outlawed in Russia – TASS], which is a unit of al Qaeda. This can hardly be called otherwise than aiding and abetting terrorists,” reports Russian State News Agency TASS…

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