Recently, the rebels in Syria have been spotted holding a new weapon in their arsenal, a BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile, which are US-made tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided anti-tank missiles. You can watch some videos here, here, and here.
According to Fars News, the missiles have been seen at the hands of Hazem militants, who are loyal to former head of the military council of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Salim Idris, in Idlib countryside in Northwestern Syria. These militants are recently operating MANPADS as well, shoulder-launched anti- aircraft missiles also made by the USA.
Fars News also reported that their sources said the US has supplied the anti-tank missiles to the militants fighting against Assad.
In RT is said that if this is true, it would be “the first advanced US weapon to be deployed in more than three years of civil war.”
They also say that "Syrian tank armor is not thick enough to withstand the BGM-71 TOW rockets. To save his tanks, Assad has shifted the brunt of his anti-rebel operation to heavy air force bombardments, which claim a heavy toll among civilians,” Debkafile continued. “Washington is therefore confronted with its next decision about whether to give the rebels sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons as well."
Taken from: https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQA-S6C0jiVZ_3q4&w=377&h=197&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.syrianperspective.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2FUnited-States-secretly-sending-anti-tank-missiles-to-Syrian-rebels-reports-YouTube.png&cfs=1
On the other hand, according to Reuters, the shipments the USA sends to the syrian rebels are quite modest and they do not contain advanced weaponry, since they fear it could be taken by the syrian government, therefore MANPADS missiles are definetly not included in the shipments.
If the USA declaration about this is true, we could also look at other options about how could the rebels get such advanced weaponry:- It could have been supplied by Saudi Arabia.
- It could have been acquired via the Lebanese black market.
- The missiles could have been captured from regime forces. Hizbullah is known to have TOWs in its inventory, and Iran is manufacturing its own copy of TOW, called Toophan, it could have delivered those to pro-Assadists. However, it should be noted that as of now there is no evidence of Hizbullah bringing its TOWs into Syria or of Toophan missiles being used by pro-Assad forces.
Taken from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/TOW_antitank_greek.jpg/350px-TOW_antitank_greek.jpg
The only way to verify the true supplier of these weapons is to wait until more photos and videos are taken, and then try to see which would be the true suppliers of such massive weaponry. Until then, even though the USA - support theory would be the most probable, it's not necessarily the true one, so there's no way to make a veredict.
Bibliography:
- http://rt.com/usa/us-syria-moderate-opposition-weapons-921/
- http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930118000768
- http://spioenkop.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-new-weapon-on-syrian-battlefield-bgm.html
- http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/04/us-usa-syria-rebels-idUSBREA331ZI20140404
