The CIA and US special operational troops and have been secretly training Syrian rebels at bases in Jordan and Turkey since November 2012. Up to 100 from all over Syria have gone through courses in the last month alone, according to US media reports.
At the two-week courses trainees are taught to use
Russian-designed 14.5-millimeter anti-tank rifles, anti-tank
missiles, as well as 23-millimeter anti-aircraft weapons, Los
Angeles Times reported citing anonymous US officials and rebel
commanders.
One of such US covert training session, conducted by American,
Jordanian and French, has allegedly been taking place in Jordan
for the last month or so, the newspaper cited Brig. Gen. Yahya
Bittar, the head of intelligence for the Free Syrian Army.
The exact number of rebels given instruction in both countries since the training began at a new American base in southwest Jordan could not be determined. But according to a different rebel commander the training in Jordan involves 20 to 45 insurgents at a time.
The training reportedly started months before President Obama
approved sending arms to anti-Assad rebels
for the first time in mid-June. The secret courses have involved
fighters from the Free Syrian Army, according to US official, who
spoke to the newspaper anonymously. They have been selected when
US military set up supply lines to provide nonlethal assistance
to rebels, according to the official.
So far, about 100 rebels from Dara have attended four courses,
while rebels from Damascus have attended three courses, according
to a rebel commander in the Syrian province of Dara.
“Those from the CIA, we would sit and talk with them during
breaks from training and afterward, they would try to get
information on the situation inside” Syria, said the
commander, who helps oversee weapons acquisitions.
Graduates are sent back across the border to re-join the fight,
Brig. Gen. Bittar said.
The rebels have been promised supplies of armor-piercing anti-tank weapons and other arms to resist President Assad’s army, the Dara commander said. Since last year, the weapons sent through the Dara military council, apparently from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, have included four or five Russian-made heavy Concourse anti-tank missiles, 18 14.5-millimeter guns mounted on the backs of pickup trucks and 30 82-millimeter recoilless rifles, the commander told the newspaper.
“I’m telling you, this amount of weapons, once they are spread
across the province [of Dara] is considered nothing,” the
rebel commander was quoted as saying. “We need more than this
to tip the balance or for there to even be a balance of
power.”
The White House and CIA officials have declined to comment on the alleged training programs while other US officials have confirmed the training, though disputed details provided by rebels.
President Obama has announced that some 700 combat-ready troops
have stayed behind in Jordan at the request of the Jordanian
government.
The troops will remain until the security situation stabilizes.
"This detachment that participated in the exercise and
remained in Jordan includes Patriot missile systems, fighter
aircraft, and related support, command, control, and
communications personnel and systems," Obama was quoted by
Reuters.
The deployment increases the number of US troops stationed in the
country to 1,000, according to an AFP defense source.
More backdoor US aid?
Jordan and Turkey also appeared in another recent report by the
Washington Post citing US officials said that CIA is preparing to
deliver arms to rebel groups in Syria through its bases in these
two countries.
“The bases are expected to begin conveying limited shipments of
weapons and ammunition within weeks,” the report read.
“We have relationships today in Syria that we didn’t have six months ago,” the WP quoted Benjamin J. Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, as saying.
Meanwhile, Syrian rebels have confirmed the shipment of new
weapons from “friendly countries” to battle the government
forces, according to spokesman for the opposition fighters, Loay
Al Mikdad. The shipment, the representative assured, did not come
from the US. Earlier this month the Associated Press also learned
that the Gulf States delivered new anti-tank missiles and
anti-aircraft missiles to the opposition.
The surge in weapons shipments follows US claims earlier in June
that it had strong evidence that the government has used chemical
weapons against opposition forces contrary to an earlier finding
the UN in May, with lead investigator Carla Del Ponte concluding
that the rebels were behind at least one chemical weapons attack.
Following the announcement, US officials claimed that President
Obama authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels, without
providing much detail.
The Syrian insurgent are awaiting the US shipment. “We believe
that the United States will implement its commitments to us very
soon," Al Mikdad said on Friday.
Speaking at the Russian economic forum on Friday, President
Vladimir Putin has once again said that the West should not arm
the rebels because they include “terrorist” groups.
“If the United States ... recognizes one of the key Syrian
opposition organizations, al-Nusra, as terrorist ... how can one
deliver arms to those opposition members?” Putin said, adding
“where will (those weapons) end up? What role will they
play?”
“It's clear that without deliveries from abroad, what is
happening in Syria now would simply be impossible. Money is going
in, weapons are going in, and well trained armed groups are going
in,” Putin said.
The escalation of tension around the Syrian conflict coincides
with an international effort, agreed by US and Russia in May to
bring all parties and major regional player to the negotiating
table. The date for the Geneva 2 conference has not been set. But
in light of recent developments Russia is beginning to doubt US
intentions.
“The [West’s] message the opposition is getting: ‘Guys, don’t
go to Geneva. Don’t say that you are going to negotiate with the
regime. Soon things will change in your favor,’” Russia’s FM
Sergey Lavrov told Bloomberg on Friday. “So, that’s what we
want to clarify. It’s either the conference or the instigation of
the opposition not to be flexible. I don’t think it’s possible to
do both at the same time.”