The Syrian envoy to the Arab League, Youssef Ahmad, speaking at an emergency AL meeting in Cairo, Egypt on October 16, 2011
The Syrian envoy to the Arab League (AL) made this announcement at an emergency meeting at the 22-member body's headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Sunday.
Youssef Ahmad said, "They are Israeli made automatic weapons. This is proven and we'll show it on TV channels," Syrian state television reported.
"These are the weapons used by the armed opposition to kill the sons of our nation."
Not one Arab country has condemned Tel Aviv's role in the internal violence in Syria or censured the killings of members of the Syrian Armed Forces in the unrest, Ahmad noted.
In addition, the envoy called on the Arab nations not to join, what he referred to as, a United States-backed plan to target Syria.
The meeting came amid continued tension in Syria, which has been raging on since mid-March, leaving hundreds of casualties, including members of the security forces.
The Syrian government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists for the violence.
Damascus says that the unrest is being orchestrated from outside the country and that the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.
The Syrian and Lebanese authorities have recurrently intercepted weapon shipments, while they were being smuggled into the country amid the tension.
The last of the consignments, which had been loaded onto two cars, consisted of rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, pump-action shotguns, sniper rifles, pistols, and various types of ammunition.
Peter Harling, a Damascus-based expert with the Brussels-headquartered International Crisis Group said, "Smuggling networks that for years have operated along Syria's borders seem to have turned to weapons trafficking in recent months."
He added that it appeared that a market had quickly developed in a country, where weapons were not being circulated easily before.
AL member states are, however, discussing whether to suspend Syria's membership over the deadly violence, downplaying Damascus' heightened need under the current circumstances for regional support.
The weapons could have been stolen.
If Syria could reliably demonstrate who the "resistance" is and how they are getting weapons, they might be able to swing the tide of opinion against their regime.
I know that most in the US are totally convinced by the Western media stories.
If that trend continues, someone will find some way to continue to destroy Syria without being stopped.
What we are witnessing, apparently, as we have SO MANY times before, is an external effort to take advantage of various internal disputes and weaknesses to cause (in this case) Syria to destroy itself as a country. It is like a disease attacking a body. It is essentially external, but it feeds off of internal weaknesses.
I don't know why it isn't more clear that the powers behind this violence don't want to change the regime. They want to destroy the nation of Syria so that the people who remain will do whatever they are told to do.
Recognition of this reality is a factor in the unfortunate decision of many "rogue" governments to use authoritarian and violent methods to make it appear externally that their country is strong and united. This strategy is foolish; but it is the best many who find themselves leaders are capable of.
Leaders must understand their situations and how to handle them much better than most do now if we want to avoid the widespread suffering that is being predicted for the affluent nations, and that is already so commonplace in most other parts of the planet.