Report: Western intelligence feeding information to Syrian rebels

CIA operatives and their counterparts in MI6, the United Kingdom’s foreign-intelligence wing, have been gathering reams of raw intelligence gleaned from American and British satellites and other electronic intelligence assets in the skies above Syria, according to reports in the U.K’s Daily Star.

After parsing though that raw data, analysts in Washington and London have passed on those bits of actionable intelligence to CIA and MI6 agents on the ground, who then pass the information to rebel leaders.

That information includes images of troop movements of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as captured communications between top Syrian military officials in Damascus to commanders in the field, a British defense source told the Star.

That information has allowed rebel leaders to evacuate areas targeted by Assad’s troops and possibly plan counterstrikes against offensives by government forces.