Members of the Free Syrian Army patrol an area in northwestern Syria. Picture and Source: Agency France Press
-Much has been revealed to the international press on signals intelligence (sigint) collection concerning Syrian Civil War issues.
The current role of Israel's sigint organisation in helping the US decide to (most probably) deploy cruise missiles against Syrian Government targets is indicated on US specialist website IntelNews at http://intelnews.org/2013/08/28/01-1330/. It is probable that Syrian use of chemical weapons, and which Syrian Government units to hit, are the major issues of sigint interest.
Two other countries involved in sigint collection are Germany and the UK.
Intelnews, on August 20, 2012(long before Snowden appeared) provided these and many other details concerning intel collection from Syria http://intelnews.org/2012/08/20/01-1066/ . The following is a small portion of the http://intelnews.org/2012/08/20/01-1066/ article:
"Germany, UK, share intelligence with Free Syrian Army"
“According to Bild, the [German foreign intelligence agency (BND)] collects most of its intelligence on Syria through a number of ships, equipped with signals intelligence platforms, stationed in international waters off the Syrian coast. These ships can collect data on Syrian troop movements as far inland as 600 kilometers, or 400 miles. The collected data is then forwarded to BND officers stationed at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization base in Adana, Turkey, who are also tasked with intercepting radio messages and telephone exchanges between members of the Syrian government and/or military. The information is then passed on to members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the primary armed force engaged in a fierce civil war against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. Also on Sunday, the London-based Times newspaper quoted an unnamed FSA official as saying that the rebel forces are routinely given intelligence by British spy agencies. The official told the paper that “the British are giving the information to the Turks and the Americans and we are getting it from the Turks”.
The Times article claims that British agencies are collecting most of their signals intelligence on Syria from their military bases in Dhekelia and Akrotiri, on Cyprus. It has long been known that the two British bases on the Mediterranean island host sophisticated listening posts operated by the General Communications Headquarters [GCHQ], Britain’s foremost signals intelligence agency based in Cheltenham, England.”Many more recent IntelNews articles concerning intelligence collection methods from Syria can be accessed by clicking this string http://intelnews.org/?s=syria
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Pete