“Top intelligence officials of the US, Britain, France,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan convened in an urgent meeting at
the British ambassador’s residence in Ankara on June 7 to discuss an
immediate rebel attack on the Syrian government and army positions in
reprisal for the Syrian army’s recent victory in Al-Qusseir,” a liaison
officer coordinating the meeting told FNA.

According to the report, the participants of this Ankara secret
meeting included (with the exception of Jordan) the regional
intelligence directors of the seven countries directly involved in
supporting the insurrection.

 The source, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of his information and for fear of his life, said, “All
the aforesaid countries sent their regional directors to the meeting,
except for Jordan which was represented at a lower level.”

The meeting acknowledged the lack of morale among rebel forces and
the need “to assess the psychological impacts of the Syrian army’s
victory in Al-Qusseir on rebel groups and work out a morale-boost
response to Damascus.”

“Given the defeat and withdrawal of the rebel groups from Al-Qusseir, the meeting studied possible geopolitical replacements for delivering arms shipments to the rebels,” the source added and continued, “Also participants discussed the focal points and methods that need to be dealt with by the western and Arab media to boost the morale of the rebels.”

 The source said participants also “decided to increase financial aids to the rebels through Saudi Arabia and Qatar”.

 ”They also discussed several plans to retaliate the rebels’ crushing defeat in Al-Qusseir,” he concluded.

 (Fars News, July 6, 2013)

Two weeks following the Ankara intelligence meeting on June 7,  The
Friends of Syria gathered in Qatar (June 22, 2013). France’s President
Francois Hollande and US Secretary of State John Kerry were present.
The representatives  from the “11 core members” of the Friends of Syria group agreed in a final statement “to provide urgently all the necessary materiel and equipment to the opposition on the ground”.  The aid to the rebels was to be channeled through the Syrian opposition’s Supreme Military Council.
In addition to the funds channeled by the 11 core member states of
the Friends of Syria,  large and undisclosed amounts of financial aid
are being channeled through private foundations based in the Gulf
States.
In recent developments, the Syrian opposition has chosen a new Saudi backed leader, Ahmad al-Jarba:

“Jarba belongs to the large al-Shammar tribe, whose
members extend into Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and he is related by marriage
to one of Saudi King Abdullah’s wives.”

Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research