The CIA and US special forces have been secretly training Syrian rebels since last year at bases in Jordan and Turkey, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
The Free Syrian Army was involved in two-week training programmes that included work with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, a US official and a Syrian rebel commander told the Times.
White House spokesman Jay Carney would not comment on the report and also declined to outline what weapons the US could provide to the rebels, except to say "I cannot inventory for you all the elements of that assistance."
"The important point here is that, because of the actions we have seen the Assad regime take, we have decided to increase both the scope and scale of our assistance to the opposition, and we've been very clear about that over the last weeks and months," he said.
