LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - This disclosure illustrates the administration's growing support for the Syrian rebels. Overall, support for the rebels has intensified after last month's failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against Assad.

The White House has currently stopped short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, while some U.S. allies have done just that.

Western analysts say there has been a greater improvement in the cohesiveness of the rebels over the past several weeks. This is a very significant development as officials had previously characterized the rebel forces as a disorganized mob.

The support the Obama administration will be lending the Syrian rebels remains closely guarded and unclear.

The United States is collaborating at a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.

In addition to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct military and communications support to Assad's opponents, according to Reuters.

Located in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, the "nerve center" is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.

The nation of Turkey, with its moderate Islamist government has been demanding that the Assad regime be removed. Turkish authorities are increasingly involved in providing Syrian rebels with training and possibly equipment.

Wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar are reported to be providing significant financing to the rebels. Senior officials of the Saudi and Qatari governments have publicly called for Assad's departure.

The Free Syrian Army has since obtained nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles, weapons that could be used against Assad's helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Syrian government armed forces have employed such air power more extensively in recent days.

According to an NBC report, shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADs, have been delivered to the rebels via Turkey. Bassam al-Dada, a political adviser to the Free Syrian Army, denied the NBC report, telling the Arabic-language TV network Al-Arabiya that the group had "not obtained any such weapons at all."

Current and former U.S. and European officials previously said that weapons supplies, which were being organized and financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were largely limited to guns and a limited number of anti-tank weapons, such as bazookas.

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.