Dutch government broke law, weapons to Syrian jihadists

This 11 September 2018 Dutch TV video says about itself:

The Netherlands supported terrorists in Syria – (NLA program)

Research done by Nieuwsuur [TV] and Trouw [daily] has shown that the Netherlands supports armed rebels in Syria. Non-lethal material was secretly transported via the Turkish border into Syria to support the “moderate” rebels (Jabhat al-Shamiya).

If some misguided teenager from the Netherlands goes to Syria to join Jabhat al-Shamiya (aka Levant Front) or similar pseudo-moderate paramilitaries, then the Dutch government will prosecute that misguided teenager as a terrorist. On the other hand, the government paid these same jihadist fake ‘moderates’ Dutch taxpayers’ money.

From Dutch Een Vandaag TV show today (translated):

The Dutch government has violated export restriction rules in supplying Syrian rebels. And because rules were violated, parliament had no idea what went to Syria.

Uniforms, AK-47 vests and pick-ups to a country at war: that is not allowed for any business. But the Dutch government did it, in secret. To Syria. With that, the government violated its own export rules.

Control bypassed

The Netherlands gave support to Syrian rebels … . The House of Representatives was informed about this, but was not told that it concerned pick-up trucks and AK-47 vests. Parliament was told it was non-lethal goods, such as vehicles and uniforms. If an export license would have been applied for, the Lower House would have understood what it was about.

When there were suspicions of arms smuggling at the border, the law was once again circumvented, according to publicly disclosed Ministry of Defense documents. Instead of using a large transport, the goods were divided over smaller shipments to avoid the export restrictions. Knowingly, the Dutch government this way piloted goods into Syria. The document shows that the government was indeed informed that there were import restrictions.

$ 17.924 for salaries of fighters

The documents also show that the Netherlands has paid rebels cash. Over $ 17,924 was handed over to pay the arrears of salaries of fighters. These payments and goods deliveries have been shown in a bad light. Dutch government-supported rebels have been guilty of kidnapping, murder and rape. …

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that there were sometimes export restrictions and that they were indeed circumvented.