"Secret" US Military Operations In Syria

There have been reports of a small number of C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers. An "open secret".   In recent weeks, there have been reports, mainly based on Western diplomatic sources, that rebels were receiving weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia and Qatar ...  Many of the new weapons are being funneled through a Lebanese intermediary. 

Now we hear of an F-4 jet that apparently went down Friday in the eastern Mediterranean in an area over the sea, southwest of the Turkish province of Hatay, which borders Syria.  The latest report says Syria shot down the fighter jet.

Turkey has joined nations such as the United States in saying that Syrian President Bashar Assad should step down because of the uprising in his country that has killed thousands of people. Turkey also has set up refugee camps on its border for more than 32,000 Syrians who have fled the fighting. (CBS)

As to the CIA and the weapons:

The weapons, including automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and some antitank weapons, are being funneled mostly across the Turkish border by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria's Muslim Brotherhood and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the officials said.

The C.I.A. officers have been in southern Turkey for several weeks, in part to help keep weapons out of the hands of fighters allied with Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups, one senior American official said. The Obama administration has said it is not providing arms to the rebels, but it has also acknowledged that Syria's neighbors would do so.

The clandestine intelligence-gathering effort is the most detailed known instance of the limited American support for the military campaign against the Syrian government. It is also part of Washington's attempt to increase the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who has recently escalated his government's deadly crackdown on civilians and the militias battling his rule. With Russia blocking more aggressive steps against the Assad government, the United States and its allies have instead turned to diplomacy and aiding allied efforts to arm the rebels to force Mr. Assad from power.

By helping to vet rebel groups, American intelligence operatives in Turkey hope to learn more about a growing, changing opposition network inside of Syria and to establish new ties. "C.I.A. officers are there and they are trying to make new sources and recruit people," said one Arab intelligence official who is briefed regularly by American counterparts.

American officials and retired C.I.A. officials said the administration was also weighing additional assistance to rebels, like providing satellite imagery and other detailed intelligence on Syrian troop locations and movements. The administration is also considering whether to help the opposition set up a rudimentary intelligence service. But no decisions have been made on those measures or even more aggressive steps, like sending C.I.A. officers into Syria itself, they said. (AINA)

Comments

[PALADIN]

I wonder whos the friggin rocket scientist who thought this b.s. up ? Yeah we all know who ! When is he (Obummer) gonna get it in that big thick skull of his, that these people in Syria hate us ! Why in the hell does he think helping them will change anything ? I for one don't give a rats pittuti what happens in that shithole, if muslimes want to kill each other and live like annimals in the blood , sand, and s@#T , all the power to em ! We know what the outcome will be...another Jihadist / scumbag will take power and declare re newed war on Israel and the West. This Arab Spring was nothing but B.S. from the get go....I'd like to meet the turd that coined the term and give him a good hard kick in the testicles....Liberal Moron !

[McCloud]

While this isn't at all surprising (the CIA should of course be poking around in this) the public release of a clandestine operation sounds all too much like the same politics that resulted in the leak of the Yemen agent. In other words, don't worry, Obama the Benevolent is doing something!

Our ATF couldn't manage weapons walking into Mexico, how does the CIA think it can manage weapons going into friggin Syria, run by the Muslim Brotherhood (which we now seem to be allied with).