Quatar, UAE purchasing arms from Belarus for Daesh – Russian expert


Belarus indirectly supports the Islamic State by selling weapons to countries that help Islamists in Syria and Iraq, Russian political expert Yevgeny Satanovsky told the newspaper ‘Vzglyad’.

According to the official information, during the recent visit of Quatar’s Defense Minister Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah to Minsk and meeting with Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka, they duscussed arms procurement for the benefit of the Qatari army.

“Qatar’s army does not need Belarusian arms (MANPADS, AT missile systems), because it is equipped in accordance with U.S. standards. It is obvious that they are buying for some ‘third party’, e.g.Libyan Islamists, militants in Sinai and Syrian supporters of Daesh,” Satanovsky, the head of Russia’s Middle East Institute, said.

The United Arab Emirates also makes purchases of weapons in Belarus, Satanovsky stresses.

“Al Mutlaq Technology, a sales agency of Al Mutlaq Croup, is involved in such operations. Its CEO, Husain Mohamed bin Mutlaq Alghafli, does not want public attention. But his cousin, Mohamed Abdulla bin Mutlaq Alghafli, is UAE Ambassador to Belarus, and this fact facilitates the acquisition of weapons in the country that is free of all international restrictions and embargoes,” says Satanovsky.

Previously, it was the Serbian arms dealers and North Korea that played a key role in organizing such supplies, the expert adds.

belsat.eu

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