3 EUROPEAN ARMS EXPERTS KILLED IN SYRIAN COASTAL CITY
Three European arms experts working with Syrian rebels were killed Saturday in the countryside of Syrian coastal city of Latakia, pro-government Sham FM radio cited a military source as saying. The report said that the three engineers had been working as experts in making rockets between the town of Kansaba and al-Rihanieh in the countryside of Latakia. Sham FM gave no further details about the nature of the military operation that led to the killing of the experts. The incident comes at a time when the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) threatens to carry out "qualitative" operations in the capital Damascus in response to what its leaders say "the regime's brutality." The rebels have apparently received the long-awaited arms shipments promised by some pro-government Western and Arab powers, including the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, reports said. In an apparent show of moderation, the media officials of the FSA have recently urged all foreign elements fighting alongside the rebels in Syria to leave the country, saying that they will not allow any extreme or terrorist group to stay in Syria in what they called the "post-Assad" era. Yet, reports indicate that most of the powerful fighting groups against the administration of President Bashar al-Assad follow extreme Islamist methodology. --