C.I.A. Helping Arm Syrian Rebels

With agents on the ground in southern Turkey, the C.I.A. provides assistance to U.S. allies in the Middle East to funnel weapons to Syrian rebels fighting against dictator Bashar al-Assad’s forces, according to the New York Times. The account lines up with a spate of piecemeal media accounts on U.S. aid to the rebels. The C.I.A. agents help Turkey, with funds from Qatar and Saudi Arabia and through groups including the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, to select which of the 100 or so rebel groups should receive weapons in an effort to keep arms out of the hands of the alleged extremists said to also fight against the Syrian regime.