According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, “40 Turkish intelligence officers were captured by the Syrian army. “

Turkey has been conducting intensive negotiations with Syria in order to secure their freedom […] (Zvi Bar’el and DPA, Report: U.S. drones flying over Syria to monitor crackdown, Haaretz, 18 February, 2012)

Haaretz notes that their release would depend on the extradition of Syrian defectors now living in Turkey. Syria is also willing to continue negotiating only if Turkey prevents “weapon transfers and passage of soldiers from the rebels’ Free Syria Army through its territory”.

Turkish sources told the Israeli newspaper that Turkey would reject the Syrian demands and was about to strengthen its position on Syria.

The Turkish officers allegedly confessed to the Syrian authorities that they were trained by the Israeli Mossad and were instructed “to carry out bombings to undermine the country’s security.” (Ibid.) One officer purportedly admitted that the “Mossad also trains soldiers from the Free Syria Army” as well as al-Qaeda officials on Jordanian soil with a view to send them to Syria to conduct attacks.

These testimonies corroborate information, including from Israeli intelligence sources, indicating the implication of the Mossad in the Syrian insurrection. Several reports also mention the involvement of the CIA and the British MI6, as well as European and American special forces.

The Turkish authorities denied the Israeli report.

For more on this topic visit the Global Research dossier on Syria.

Julie Lévesque contributed to this report.