Lebanese, Syrians indicted for arms trafficking to Syria

Lebanon's state commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr has charged six Syrian nationals and three Lebanese with smuggling weapons from Lebanon into neighboring Syria. The nine people were indicted on Monday by a Lebanese court for trafficking arms into Syria through the northern Lebanese area of Masharee al-Qaa. Only four of the Syrians and two Lebanese of those indicted are, however, detained whereas the three others remain at large. According to Lebanese media, the Lebanese army had arrested the smugglers as they were driving two trucks loaded with ammunition ready to be smuggled into Syria and confiscated their truckloads of weapons Syrian media had earlier reported that Damascus has blocked an attempt by an armed terrorist group to break into into the country from neighboring Lebanon. The smuggling of arms into Syria comes as the country has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. The West and the Syrian opposition blame Damascus for the year-long turmoil, but the government says “terrorists” are responsible for the unrest, which it says is being orchestrated from abroad. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on February 20 that “some foreign countries” are fueling the turmoil in Syria by supporting and funding “armed terrorist groups fighting against the government.”