Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — Arab and Western countries have been providing help to the
Sunni revolt in Syria, a report said.

Chatam House, a leading British think tank, said a range of countries
were quietly intervening in the war against the regime of Syrian President
Bashar Assad. In a report, Chatam cited both NATO and Gulf Cooperation
Council states.

“While debate continues about the possibility of more open international intervention to stop the civil war in Syria, interventions of various kinds by several regional and international actors are already occurring, mostly in a semi-covert form,” the report, titled “Syria: Prospects for Intervention,” said.

Chatam, which hosted a discussion by leading unidentified strategists
and officials, identified Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as the biggest
supporters of the rebels, particularly the Free Syrian Army. Iran and Russia were focusing their efforts to rescue the Assad regime while Riyad was meeting with leading Syrian defectors, including Assad’s uncle and former vice president, Rifat, and Syrian Gen. Manaf Tlas.

The report, dated August 2012, said the supporters of the Sunni revolt
were relaying funds through private channels. Chatam said the United States and other NATO members were encouraging such “undercover intervention.”

“In the event that such ‘dirty intervention’ escalates beyond logistical
or ‘non-lethal’ support, there would be an urgent need to consider the
consequences,” the report said.

The report said Iran has so far not committed large amounts of money,
weapons or troops to save Assad. Chatam said Teheran might have assessed
that it could not halt or significantly reduce the growing Sunni revolt.

“There is some evidence that Iran is assisting with oil exports to
circumvent U.S. and EU oil embargoes, but this is unlikely to provide the
Syrian regime with any significant income given the current military
expenditure,” a report said. “The Iranians may also be supplying some light
arms, but this is also on a small scale relative to the size of the Syrian
army. There is no substantiated evidence of major Iranian units actively
engaged in Syria, despite the recent capture and incarceration of 48 Iranian
nationals by the FSA.”

  “undercover intervention”, Bashar Assad, Gen. Manaf Tlas, Gulf Cooperation Council, NATO, Report: Several nations providing ‘semi-covert’ assist to Syrian revolution, Sunni revolt