David Ignatius: On Syria, a spymasters’ conclave

Western and Arab intelligence services that support Syria’s struggling opposition gathered for a two-day strategy meeting in Washington last week that appears to signal a stronger effort to back the ”rebels”, terrorists.

Ignatius wrote to the New York Times that the spymasters’ conclave featured Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s minister of the interior, who will now supervise the kingdom’s leading role in the covert-action program. He replaces Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi intelligence chief, who has been suffering from a back ailment and whose leadership of the program was seen as uneven.

Susan Rice, the U.S. national security adviser, met with Prince Mohammed to discuss strategy. But sources caution that President Barack Obama is still wary of any major escalation in Syria that might involve U.S. forces directly. The U.S. opposes no-fly zones, for example, although the administration’s call for secure corridors to provide humanitarian assistance may lead it to embrace de facto safe zones if the U.N. can’t agree on a formal plan.

Prince Mohammed’s new oversight role reflects the increasing concern in Saudi Arabia and other neighboring countries about al-Qaida’s growing power within the Syrian opposition.

The Washington gathering was also attended by spy chiefs from Turkey, Qatar, Jordan and other key regional powers that have been supporting the ”rebels”, terrorists. Sources said these countries agreed to coordinate their aid so that it goes directly to moderate fighters rather than leeching away to extremists of the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaida affiliate, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Coordination of assistance among the different donors will be especially important. In the past, aid flows have been disrupted by political infighting between Turkey and Qatar, on the one hand, and Saudi Arabia and Jordan, on the other. The situation has been especially chaotic in northern Syria, south of the Turkish border, where the al-Qaida affiliates have taken advantage of the confusion.

The intelligence chiefs discussed whether to supply more advanced weapons to the ”rebels”, terrorists, such as shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. The Saudis have stockpiles of such weapons and are ready to ship them, but they want support from the Obama administration, which remains reluctant to give a formal OK.

The CIA has organized the training effort. Currently, the camps, mostly in Jordan, can handle about 250 fighters a month, and well over 1,000 fighters have come through this program. Though the camps are said to be supervised by CIA paramilitary operatives, the effort involves representatives of the other intelligence services. Arab countries have urged the U.S. to double this training capacity.

M.A.