Source : Al Akhbar English
US Central Intelligence Agency is collecting information on Islamic radicals in Syria for possible lethal drone strikes against them at a later stage, The Los Angeles Times reported late Friday.
Citing unnamed current and former US officials, the newspaper said President Barack Obama had not authorized any drone missile strikes in Syria yet, and none were under consideration.
But the CIA's so-called Counterterrorism Center, which runs drone programs that hit targets in Pakistan and Yemen, had recently shifted several targeting officers to gather intelligence gathering on anti- government rebels in Syria.
The targeting officers have formed a unit with colleagues who were tracking al-Qaeda-linked militants in Iraq.
Veteran militants from Iraq are believed to have moved to Syria and joined rebels fighting to overthrow the government there, the report said.
The targeting officers focusing on Syria are based at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the paper said.
The agency is working closely with Saudi, Jordanian and other regional spy services active in Syria, according to the paper.
The preparations come as radical Islamic fighters have won a growing share of rebel victories in Syria, the LA Times added.
The US State Department in December designated one of the strongest Syrian rebel groups, al-Nusra Front, as a terrorist organization, indistinguishable from al-Qaeda in Iraq.
