"Croatia neither sold nor donated arms to Syrian insurgents. We don't comment on other speculations," Hina was told at the foreign and defence ministries.
Saudi Arabia has financed a large purchase of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to anti-government fighters in Syria in a drive to break the bloody stalemate that has allowed President Bashar al-Assad to cling to power, The New York Times reported today, citing American and Western officials familiar with the purchases.
The weapons began reaching the Syrian opposition in December via shipments shuttled through Jordan, officials said, and have been a factor in the rebels' small tactical gains this winter against the army and militias loyal to Assad, according to the paper.
The arms transfers signal a shift among several governments to a more activist approach to the two-year conflict in Syria which, according to the UN, has claimed about 70,000 lives.
The weapons' distribution has been principally to armed groups viewed as nationalist and secular, and appears to have been intended to bypass the jihadist groups whose roles in the war have alarmed Western and regional powers, The New York Times said.
The article was prompted by an announcement of a military analyst who wrote on his blog several days ago that videos posted on YouTube show that rebels in Syria have weapons which Croatia used in its war for independence.