Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi National Security Council Secretary, supervised last week the operations of providing the foriegn-backed militants, fighting the Syrian government, with German anti-aircraft missiles in Antaki

Bandar Bin Sultan, the Saudi National Security Council Secretary and Head of the Saudi Intelligence, supervised last week the operations of providing the foriegn-backed militants fighting the Syrian government, with German anti-aircraft missiles in Antakia.

Arab sources told Assafir Lebanese newspaper that Prince Bandar Bin Sultan supervised last week supplying the militant groups in Syria with a batch of heavy weapons that includes mainly German anti-aircraft missiles in Antakia before the militants distributed the weapons over their different groups in Aleppo, Homs, Damascus, and Idleb.

The sources added that Bandar is seeking an arm deal with France to provide the Syrian militants with French anti-aircraft missiles, yet the French expressed their concerns about their strategic interests, and refused to be the sole provider of weapons for the militants, calling on to share these burdens.

Arming the militant groups in Syria has been a hot political controversy among the countries which support the Syrian opposition.

As the Syrian army is achieving consecutive field victories, the Syrian militants complained their need for heavy weapons to face the army progress.

In response, the countries that support them had different reactions. The Gulf countries expressed their readiness to supply the militant groups in Syria with all their military needs, yet the European countries and the United States refrained from a clear military intervention and from providing heavy weapons to the Syrian militants due to different strategic, political, and security interests.