As Western countries display increasing alarm at the strength of multinational Islamist extremists among rebels in Syria opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, a Syrian official was quoted on Wednesday as saying Western intelligence agencies had sent representatives to Damascus to discuss the phenomenon with the government there.
If confirmed, the assertion by the official, Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, would mean that while Western politicians have publicly called for Mr. Assad’s ouster, their own intelligence subordinates were privately collaborating with Mr. Assad’s lieutenants.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr. Mekdad was asked whether representatives of Western intelligence agencies — including those of Britain — had recently traveled to Damascus. “I will not specify them but many of them have visited Damascus, yes,” he replied.
The Wall Street Journal, which reported that European intelligence agencies had met secretly with Mr. Assad’s delegates to share information on European extremists operating in Syria, said the discussions had focused on at least 1,200 militants.
Quoting unidentified Western and Middle Eastern, the newspaper said the meetings had been the first such contacts with the Syrian authorities since European countries, along with the United States, withdrew their diplomats from Damascus as the country’s civil war deepened following the first stirrings of revolt in March, 2011.
The Journal said a retired official from MI6, Britain’s overseas intelligence agency, had been the first of the Western spies to visit Damascus on behalf of the British government last summer. The British Foreign Office declined to comment, saying it does not publicly address intelligence issues.
Intelligence officers from Germany, France and Spain had also been traveling from Beirut to Damascus since November, The Journal said, citing diplomats and officials with knowledge of the overtures, but the United States was not involved. NYTimes
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