Putin says he is concerned if Assad leaves power ‘now’
Putin says he is concerned if Assad leaves power ‘now’ – Alarabiya.net English | Front Page.
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, June 21, 2013. (Reuters)Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his concerned about the risk of political vacuum if embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad leaves power now.
“We are concerned about the possible appearance of apolitical vacuum in Syria if some decisions about a change of government in Syria are taken now,” Reuters reported Putting as saying during a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
“Assad goes today, a political vacuum emerges – who will fill it? Maybe …terrorist organizations,” Putin added.
A spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army told AFP on Friday that his group have recently received new weapons that could “change the course of the battle” against the Syrian regime.
“We’ve received quantities of new types of weapons, including some that we asked for and that we believe will change the course of the battle on the ground,” FSA political and media coordinator Louay Muqdad said, according to AFP.
“We have begun distributing them on the front lines, they will be in the hands of professional officers and FSA fighters,” he said.
He did not specify what weapons had been received or when they had arrived, but added that a new shipment was expecting in coming days and recalled that the rebels had asked for “deterrent weapons.”
The apparent influx of weapons comes after the United States said it would provide rebel forces with “military support,” although it has declined to outline what that might entail.
“The weapons will be used for one objective, which is to fight the regime of (President) Bashar al-Assad,” Muqdad insisted.
“They will be collected after the fall of the regime, we have made this commitment to the friends and brotherly countries” who supplied the weapons, he said.
On Thursday, Muqdad said rebels needed short-range ground-to-air missiles, surface-to-air missiles known as MANPADS, anti-tank missiles, mortars and ammunition.
(With AFP and Reuters)
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WarSclerotic 
June 21, 2013 at 11:00 PM
Putin is concerned if Assad will leave the power or will be over throned . Of course he is concerned. Putin likes Assad very much. First, Assad is a doctor. Second, Assad, even that he kills his people, he doesnt eat them. Remember? Putin doesn’t like the rebels because they eat the organs of the soldiers they killed. How do we know that? Putin told us, on the TV. Killing your own people, thats ok.
Putin can leave with that. A doctor who is killing his own people is the most natural thing in the world. But eating them? No, no. Putin cannot leave with that. He will even provide Assad with those infamous S-300. That will teach the rebels a lesson. Killing people, thats ok. Eating them, not ok. Putin told us.
June 22, 2013 at 7:13 PM
you know luis the only word that comes to mind when you mention Putin other than murderer is fascist
June 22, 2013 at 7:53 PM
Stalin and Hitler were the two sides of the same coin; the nazi ideology and the stalinist communism were, in many ways, the same. Mother Russia has no democratic tradition or roots. Don’t forget what really happened: a little and very loudly and violent group – the bolsheviks – murdered the Tzar and the entire royal family – the children included – by Lenin orders. The year was 1918, when the Tzar family was summarily executed; from then on, the things only get worse because the bolsheviks rule was dictatorial in essence and purges, crimes and political trials were usual in the soviet state. Even today, Putin cannot stand criticism: he eliminated all its political adversaries and no matter what the method is, the result is important: no political adversaries to Putin in Russia.
Putin also renewed the cold war, an époque we all thought it was gone forever. Of course, that happened because the void left in the world by a weak and unprepared USA president. As we always thought, the Great October Revolution caused the russian people to freeze in time for more than 70 years so this is the time gap Russia has to fill to understand and cooperate with the West in a truly way.
June 21, 2013 at 11:42 PM
I must agree with Putin on this one.Al qaida is surely rumbling in this war.
June 22, 2013 at 1:11 AM
“The weapons will be used for one objective, which is to fight the regime of (President) Bashar al-Assad,” Muqdad insisted.
“They will be collected after the fall of the regime, we have made this commitment to the friends and brotherly countries” who supplied the weapons, he said.
Of course they will be collected. By flying pigs.
June 22, 2013 at 7:32 AM
…”Pigs On The Wing”.
June 22, 2013 at 4:51 AM
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/syrian-rebels-receive-new-shipment-of-weapons/article12757992/?cmpid=rss1
Above article confirms that the two Syrian tanks destroyed the other day were taken out by newly delivered anti-tank missiles. If the volume delivered is sufficient and includes anti-aircraft weapons then Assad’s men lose a big advantage.
June 22, 2013 at 8:17 PM
How long till these weapons are firing over the Israeli border?
June 22, 2013 at 8:34 PM
We’ll know how to deal with that at the right time. IDF is not Assad’ Syrian Army. Meantime, thumbs up for the militants. They are the enemy of our enemies.
June 22, 2013 at 8:46 PM
the weapons are going to Chechnya after syria