CIA Providing Intelligence to Syria Rebels

Local Editor

The US daily, Wall Street Journal, reported Saturday that the Central Intelligence Agency is expanding its role in the campaign against the Syrian regime by feeding intelligence to select rebel fighters to use against government forces.
According to current and former US officials, "The expanded CIA role bolsters an effort by Western intelligence agencies to support the Syrian opposition with training in areas including weapons use, urban combat."
"The CIA has sent officers to Turkey to help vet rebels who receive arms shipments from Gulf allies," the report said, and claimed that "the US administration officials cited concerns about some weapons going to extremists."
In parallel, the daily mentioned: "In Iraq, the CIA has been directed by the White House to work with elite counter-terrorism units to help the Iraqis counter the flow of al-Qaida-linked fighters across the border with Syria, The Journal said.
"Syrian opposition commanders said the CIA had been working with British, French and Jordanian intelligence services to train rebels in the use of various kinds of weapons," the paper said.

It further reported: "The move comes as the al-Nusra Front, the main al-Qaida-linked group operating in Syria, is deepening its ties to the terrorist organization's central leadership in Pakistan."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org