WASHINGTON: US officials say the CIA has been delivering light machine guns and other small arms to Syrian rebels for several weeks, following President Barack Obama's decision to arm the rebels.

The intelligence agency has also arranged for the Syrian opposition to receive anti-tank weaponry like rocket-propelled grenades through a third party, presumably one of the Gulf countries that has been arming the rebels, according to a senior US intelligence official and two former intelligence officials.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the classified programme publicly.

The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal first reported the aid. Top rebel commander Gen. Salim Idris told National Public Radio on Thursday that rebels had received no such aid. The CIA declined to comment.—AP