WASHINGTON President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, sources familiar with the matter said. This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents - a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government. The secret order, referred to as an intelligence "finding," allows for clandestine support by the CIA and other agencies. U.S. officials have told CNN that Washington is cooperating with countries that are arming the rebels, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to help find groups worthy of aid. During the war in Libya, Obama signed a similar directive authorizing covert assistance for rebels in the battle against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It was unclear when the president signed the authorization for Syria, but the sources said it was within the past several months. The State Department said Wednesday the United States has set aside $25 million for "nonlethal" assistance to the Syrian opposition, with another $64 million in humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people. The Obama administration has ruled out arming the rebels for now, providing only nonlethal assistance, such as communications equipment. The humanitarian aid, which includes funding for the World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other aid agencies, helps support the tens of thousands of refugees streaming across Syria's borders to neighboring Turkey and Jordan. Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury confirmed it had granted authorization to the Syrian Support Group, Washington representative of one of the most active rebel factions, the Free Syrian Army, to conduct financial transactions on the rebel group's behalf.
– Syrian rebels have become much more organized and effective in recent weeks, and it appears the CIA deserves some of the credit. President Obama has signed a secret order, approved earlier this year, allowing the CIA and other American agencies to support rebels seeking to oust Bashar al-Assad, sources tell Reuters. It's not clear how much clandestine support the agencies are offering, but they have apparently stopped short of providing the rebels with lethal weapons. Obama signed a similar order during the Libyan conflict allowing covert support for rebels battling Moammar Gadhafi's regime. The State Department has authorized $25 million for "nonlethal" support for the rebels and another $64 million in humanitarian aid. Foreign policy experts told a Senate panel yesterday that the time has come for the US to start arming the rebels, CNN reports. "At this point, given the direction of the conflict, I think that what we need to do is assess which groups could we and should we arm at what point, and make that decision," an expert from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy testified. "I think that we're actually at that decision, given where the conflict is going."