How Do You Smuggle Heat-Seeking Missiles Into Syria? Try a Classic Car Auction

As an ally to the U.S. with a more democratic state of affairs than most Gulf States, Kuwait has championed America's stance towards Bashar al-Assad's regime via private programs and social networking platforms. Kuwait has been a front-runner in helping with the cause of overthrowing Assad by directly siding with the Syrian rebels who have been at the task for over two years now. Bashar al-Assad belongs to the minority Shi'a sect of Syria's Muslims, whereas the rebels are mainly composed of the majority Sunni sect. Kuwaitis are now organizing campaigns such as Great Kuwait Campaign to collect capital to provide weapons and defense arms to the rebels. Once these mass weapons are collected, the dream is to overthrow Assad.

The Arab Spring which engulfed countries in the Middle East and Africa (and specifically the Gulf States) prominently highlighted the drastic internal struggles prevalent in these countries. The struggle was same: the people versus the despotism which was rampant in all these countries. Egypt, Yemen, Libya all went through massive overhauls of regimes, and the people took to the streets for a revolution. A bloody war was fought, and is still being fought. Bashar al-Assad of Syria is facing a similar wave of terrible anger from the his people, a prolonged anger. Syria was ravaged terribly during the Arab Spring and the battle was directly aimed at those who aided al-Assad's autocracy .

Due to sanctions that are put on Kuwait, they can't directly provide money to the rebels; hence innovative methods are employed, such as auctioning expensive cars and jewelry. Brand new cars of a variety of Western brands raise the money that is then sent to the rebels to procure expensive equipment such as missiles which are urgently required. Other supplies procured via these methods include heat-seeking and anti-aircraft as well as anti-tank and armour-piercing weapons. The car auction which took place drew a whopping $282,500 in just the four hours it was conducted within.

The U.S. and its allies in the West can't be too happy about this, though; the issue in Syria is no longer between the al-Assad dictatorship and the rebels, it's between two religious sects which have foreign backing. Essentially, weapons are being provided to fundamentalists who are pursuing violent struggle to have their voices heard ... and their views enforced. How safe is it to assist a violent revolution and a dangerous movement, regardless of the U.S.'s sympathy towards the cause? That's the conclusive question that must be addressed.