Special to WorldTribune.com

AMMAN — Another U.S.-led operation against the regime of President Bashar Assad has failed.

Western intelligence sources said a CIA-trained Sunni rebel force financed by Saudi Arabia was ambushed in southern Syria on Feb. 15.

The sources said the rebels, linked to the Free Syrian Army, came under heavy fire from Islamist militias within hours of crossing the Jordanian border into Syria in an operation meant to bolster the rebels around Damascus.

“As soon as the rebel force entered Syria, the Islamists were waiting for them,” a source said. “There were significant casualties among the rebels and many of them fled.”

Neither Jordan nor the United States confirmed the failed rebel operation, in which more than 10 people were killed. But Jordan reported a clash between its troops and Syrians along the northern border and reported injuries on both sides. On Feb. 17, another would-be infiltrator from Syria was reported killed.

“A dozen people tried to illegally cross the border on Saturday evening
[Feb. 15] in an area assigned for refugees,” the Jordanian General Command
said. “There was a battle by border guards with the infiltrators and seven
of them were injured and three others were arrested.”

This marked the second major attempt by the CIA to deploy a rebel force
in southern Syria. In late 2013, about 1,000 U.S.-equipped and
Saudi-financed fighters were ambushed by Islamist militias within hours
of entering Jordan’s Dera province.

The sources said the latest rebel force received Russian-origin
anti-tank guided missiles and surface-to-air missiles for operations against
Assad’s military. They said Saudi Arabia, which intensified support, wanted
the force to reach the southern suburbs of Damascus, under siege by the
Syrian Army’s 4th Division, under the command of Assad’s brother, Maher.

A leading Israeli think tank asserted that Saudi Arabia, under a plan by
its intelligence chief Bandar Bin Sultan, was playing a major role in
developing the new Syrian rebel forces. The Institute for National Security
Studies said training and command centers were established in Irbid, Jordan
and Taif, Saudi Arabia to transfer money from the Gulf Cooperation Council
to the Sunni revolt in Syria.

“Two years since the inception of the Bandar Plan, the Saudi assessment
is that given the stalemate between the two sides, the plan’s objective of
helping the rebel groups in Syria has not been achieved,” the institute said
on Feb. 16.

  Bandar Bin Sultan, CIA-trained Syrian rebel force ambushed by Islamists near Jordan border, Dera province, Free Syrian Army