Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Opposition sources said the CIA has been working with Jordan and Saudi Arabia to train and equip 10,000 Syrians to join the Sunni revolt against the regime of President Bashar Assad.

“These fighters were trained by specialists from the Central Intelligence Agency in camps inside Jordan territory,” Najib Al Ghadban, the U.S. representative of the Syrian National Coalition, said.

In an interview with the Saudi-owned A-Sharq Al Awsat, Al Ghadban said Jordan agreed to host rebel training camps. He said the conflict in Syria pitted Iran and Russia against Washington and its Gulf Arab allies.

“The conflict is no longer Syrian-Syrian,” Al Ghadban said.

“The CIA wants to build a force that will constantly harass the Syrian military and its proxies,” a source said.

In February 2014, the CIA sent more than 500 rebels trained and equipped with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons into southern Syria. Within hours, the rebel force, linked to the Free Syrian Army, came under heavy attack from Islamist militias in the Dera province.

The FSA has dismissed the prospect of a rebel offensive from Jordan to Damascus, a distance of 100 kilometers.

“The Saudis want to save their people around Damascus, and that’s the
main reason they’re helping finance this,” an FSA officer said. “There is
no unity of purpose or even a coherent strategy.”

Commanders said neither the FSA
nor other rebel militias were equipped with the heavy weapons that could
threaten Syrian fighter-jets and attack helicopters.

The sources said the U.S. aim, coordinated with Saudi Arabia, was to
send a battalion-sized rebel force that could reach the southern suburbs of
Damascus. They said Riyad demanded that the CIA-trained fighters help
relieve the daily air and artillery strikes on rebel-held strongholds.

“Some of the operations are expected to fail, but there might be successes as well,” a source said.

The sources said the CIA wants to maintain a flow of up to 1,000 rebel
fighters from Jordan into Syria every two months.

“The Jordanian Armed Forces will never allow insurgents into Jordanian
territory or allow them to transit through Jordan to any destination,”
Jordanian Interior Minister Hussein Al Majali said.

  Bashar Assad, CIA, Free Syrian Army, Syrian rebels dismiss U.S. role: ‘There is no unity of purpose or even coherent strategy’