CIA, Israeli Intelligence Train Substitutes for Syrian Officials

A senior commander of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) said the Israeli intelligence service has been helping some Syrian military defectors to be trained in order to hold posts in the Syrian military after the government falls.
Colonel Riad al-Asaad has revealed on his Twitter page that the first group of officers includes Syrian military defectors who have been graduated from Jordan universities with the help of Israeli intelligence services, Al-Alam reported.

He added that based on an American plan, this group which included 60 colonels is supposed to replace Syrian military officers once the government in Syria is overthrown.

Asaad says there is also a second group of 180 officers who will soon be graduated.

He also revealed that British security agencies want to establish an assembly under the title of National Security Organization to appoint police chiefs in regions controlled by the FSA.

Asaad, a former air force engineer, defected from Syria in July 2011. He set up the FSA a month later in Turkey.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011.

According to reports, the western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are supporting militants operating inside Syria to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the violence.