Syria, new destination of UK troops in Afghanistan: Report

British forces are being pulled out of Afghanistan to join militants fighting inside Syria against President Bashar al-Assad, a new media report has revealed.

British special forces are being “quietly” withdrawn from Afghanistan in order to be deployed to Syria, The Daily Star reported on Sunday quoting from a Whitehall source.

The Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) commanders are said to be drawing up secret plans to supply foreign-backed militants in the Arab country with weapons.

British troops are planned to be working under the supervision of Britain’s secret intelligence agency MI6 and France’s Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), seeking to send a £20 million-arsenal of weapons stockpiled in Syria’s neighboring countries to militants fighting against the Syrian government.

Earlier this week, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK could go it alone to arm foreign-sponsored militants in Syria if other European Union (EU) member states refuse to lift the arms embargo on the Arab country in May.

The Syrian crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed.

Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals.