Al Arabiya, 24 July 2012  – The lack of sufficient intelligence on Syria is impeding the U.S. efforts to speed up the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad and develop a comprehensive understanding of the opposition forces, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing U.S. officials.

Faced with intelligence gaps on Syria, U.S. spy agencies have stepped up their surveillance in recent months to gather information on the Assad’s regime, his forces and the opposition fighters, but the efforts are still largely confined to intercepting communications and observing the conflict from distance, U.S. foreign intelligence officials told the paper.
They said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been unable to “establish a presence in Syria” in contrast to its prominent role in Egypt and Libya and that the United States is largely dependent on intelligence gathered by its regional allies, such as Jordan and Turkey.

“The folks that have been identified have been identified through Turkey and Jordan,” a U.S. official said. “It’s not because of who we know. It’s all through liaison.”

“But we’ve got to figure out who is over there first, and we don’t really know that,” another official told the paper, adding, “It’s not like this is a new war. It’s been going on for 16 months.”

Regional and international powers, including some of the staunch supporters of the Syrian opposition are concerned over who might take control in Syria if the Assad’s regime falls.

“The vetting process is still in the early stages,” a Middle Eastern intelligence official told the Washington Post.

Some of these countries are worried that the opposition are dominated by Islamists who may push for a Muslim Brotherhood government after Assad.

“We think this is a majority view, at least among those who are fighting in the streets,” the official said.

But despite the intelligence limitations, U.S. President Barack Obama has signed on several covert actions that would allow the delivery of aid to Syrian opposition fighters.

The CIA, through its officers based on the Turkish-Syrian border, has “supplied encryption-enabled communications gear to opposition groups, presumably enabling the United States to monitor their talks,” the Post reported, citing intelligence officials.

The officials added that the United States was not providing weapons to the Syrian opposition, but was helping with intelligence the countries that are willing to arm the fighters in Syria.

“The United States has a rather checkered history with arming opposition groups — we’re currently fighting one,” an administration official said, told the paper, referring to the arming of Afghan Mujahedeen fighting the Soviet Union in the 1980s. “You really have to think hard about the second- or third-order effects of making that decision,” the official said, adding in “there could be a number of extremist elements” in Syria.

“The agency and others are trying to learn more about them,” the official said. “It’s still the case that without actual access to Syria, it’s hard to know exactly who they are.”