Gulf States Said Ready to Fund Syrian Opposition Fighters
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Gulf countries will provide millions of dollars a month to the main Syrian opposition group to pay salaries for fighters battling government forces, according to a participant at a conference on Syria in Istanbul.
Funding for the Syrian National Council’s efforts to pay fighters and army defectors would come from three or four Gulf countries, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak on the record because the decision hasn’t been announced yet. Abdalsalam Albitar, an SNC member, said Saudi Arabia and Qatar have pledged to help fund payments to anti-regime fighters. Albitar, speaking in an interview through an interpreter, said the amount pledged hasn’t been settled yet.