A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to President Obama on Thursday, urging him to shoot down a report which claims that the CIA has planned to arm Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft weaponry.
Led by Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), the lawmakers sent the missive in response to an April story in the Wall Street Journal. That article stated the CIA is considering providing vetted rebels with shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles known as MANPADS, if the fragile Syrian ceasefire breaks down further.
The heavy weaponry could be effective in countering the withering air assault on rebel positions by both the Assad government and the Russian military, but the arms could also end up in the hands of extremists with other uses for them in mind.
“MANPADS can easily be hidden in the trunk of a car or even in a golf bag, making their proliferation a serious threat to civilian airliners in the region–including Israeli airliners–and across the world,” the lawmakers wrote.
They noted that Congress has passed several measures in recent years prohibiting the administration from supplying MANPADS to rebel forces, and that President Obama’s own national security team has been long opposed to the idea.
“We have made clear that there are certain types of weapons, including MANPADS, that could pose a proliferation risk if introduced into Syria,” White House National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told Reuters in 2014.
Despite the apparent reluctance on the part of the US thus far to supply anti-aircraft provisions, MANPADS are reportedly prevalent on the Syrian battlefield. The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper claimed last month that the country is “awash” in MANPADS that had been procured by the Syrian government or supplied by outside nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Speaking to Der Speigel, the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubair defended the transfer of the arms to the Syria battlefield. “We believe that introducing surface-to-air missiles in Syria is going to change the balance of power on the ground,” he claimed.
According to the Los Angeles Times, however, rebels have been largely unable to take utilize the MANPADS system because they lack the proper equipment, including battery chargers, to fire them.
In their message to the president, the lawmakers cited a 2011 US State Department study on the use of MANPADS against civilian aircraft, which found that since 1975, 40 planes have been struck by the weapons system, leading to 28 crashes and more than 800 fatalities around the world.
They also noted that MANPAD transfers would violate three international agreements that the US is party to, which prevent the arming of non-state actors with the surface-to-air armaments.
