We’ve repeatedly noted that the U.S. government planned regime change in Syria at least 20 years ago [5].
Indeed, carrying out acts of violence and blaming it on the Syrian government as an excuse for regime change was discussed over 50 years ago by British and American leaders [6].
We noted in December that foreign troops were amassing on the Syrian border [7].
We noted yesterday that an independent report by the Arab League found that “rebels” were attacking government buildings and innocent civilians with armor-piercing projectiles and other heavy weaponry [8].
Today, Israeli news site Debkafile reports [9]:
British and Qatari special operations units are operating with rebel forces under cover in the Syrian city of Homs just 162 kilometers from Damascus, according to debkafile’s exclusive military and intelligence sources. The foreign troops are not engaged in direct combat with the Syrian forces bombarding different parts of Syria’s third largest city of 1.2 million. They are tactical advisers, manage rebel communications lines and relay their requests for arms, ammo, fighters and logistical aid to outside suppliers, mostly in Turkey.
This site is the first to report the presence of foreign military forces in any of the Syrian uprising’s embattled areas.
Something very similar happened in Libya [10] … and that has not turned out very well [11]. (Indeed, some of the Al Qaeda fighters who overthrew Gadaffi [12] are now helping the Syrian rebels [13]).
Of course, this situation cannot be viewed in a vacuum. Russia has sent a large naval force [14] to Syria in a show of support for the Syrian government, and a high-level Russian general and former member of the Russian joint chiefs of staff has said that Russia will defend Iran [15]. Iran and Syria have had a mutual defense pact [16] for years, and Iran is purportedly directly assisting [17] the Syrian military in its fight with the rebels … sending 15,000 troops [18] of its own. And China has warned against an attack on Syria [19].