LONDON (AP) Islamic militants have taken control of a cache of machine guns and ammunition intended for Syria's Western-backed rebels, the Syrian opposition confirmed Friday, demanding that the weapons be returned.
Syrian National Coalition official Monzer Akbik told reporters in London that it still wasn't completely clear how a new alliance of hardline Muslim fighters came to control warehouses containing rebel machine guns and ammunition at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria and Turkey, but they did.
"The reality is that the Islamic Front are holding, now, the hardware," he said. "They should return it."
The apparent seizure of rebel weaponry by fighters loyal to Syria's newly created Islamic Front has dealt a serious blow to the Syrian opposition, which is struggling to maintain international support as extremists expand their hold across rebel-held territories. The Islamic Front is an umbrella group of powerful ultra-conservative Muslim fighters.
The move has rattled supporters of the Syrian National Coalition which opposes the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad and its military wing, the Free Syrian Army, the Western-backed rebel group fighting to topple him. On Wednesday, the U.S. and Britain both announced they were suspending deliveries of non-lethal gear to rebels in northern Syria following news of the warehouse takeover.
