

Letter to the editor: U.S. arms appearing in pro-Assad militias

10:50 PM, Jul. 14, 2013  |  Comments

As of recently, there is strong speculation that armaments from the United States and Europe are ending up with pro-Assad militias. Such speculation further questions the attitude we, as a country, exhibit towards our foreign policy.

The Syrian conflict, being complex, has often been portrayed in the media as two groups, Sunni and Shia, in a deadlock battle for control over the state itself. Though this characterization holds some truth, we have to remember that Syria's division goes much more beyond the religious tensions and into complex relations between diverse groups of people that sometimes extend beyond Syria's political boundaries. Civil wars, such as the case in Syria, have proven to be massive voids full of armed groups.

Sending weapons to a loosely connected opposition, under the assumption that they are going to be used to fight an oppressive regime, profoundly displays how we often think that there are two concrete entities fighting each other in total war. In reality both sides have been represented by various militias and groups that are linked by loose ideology.

Sending weapons to such an environment will have a high risk of being diverted into a variety actors and pose to prolong the conflict even further. If the United States wishes to maintain its superpower influence in critical regions, such as the Middle East, it must exercise restraint in armament shipments to high risk areas experiencing conflict.

Doing so otherwise could endanger regional stability and affect important allies, such as Israel, and could potentially strengthen terrorist organizations connected to armed groups.

Adam Wolf


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