On 1 November 2011, NATO said it had no intention of taking military action in Syria, after it closed its seven-month campaign in Libya. On that same month, Libyan rulers offered weapons, money and potential volunteers, it was reported that 600 rebel fighters have gone from Libya to Syria in order to support the rebels.
In June 2012, Reuters suggested that the prospect of British special forces entering Syria on the ground is growing, following unconfirmed reports from an Israeli website that SAS Commandos were conducting covert operations within Syrian territory, operating from Turkey on 26 June 2012.
At a conference in Paris in July 2012, Western and Sunni Arab countries nonetheless announced they were going to „massively increase“ aid to the Syrian opposition.
In 2012, the United States, United Kingdom and France provided opposition forces with non-lethal military aid, including communications equipment and medical supplies. The U.K. was also reported to have provided intelligence support from its Cyprus bases, revealing Syrian military movements to Turkish officials, who then pass on the information to the FSA.
A crucial line of support began in spring 2012 as Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced they would begin arming and bankrolling the opposition. Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, and Emile Hokayem of the International Institute of Strategic Studies argued such support would be unlikely to immediately make a decisive impact. A ship carrying weapons from Libya believed destined for Syria‘s rebels has also been intercepted. Qatar is reported to be shipping arms to Sunni Islamists in Syria as a means of cementing alliances in the Middle East.
On 22 April 2013 the European Union lifted its embargo on Syrian oil to import barrels directly from rebel groups. Several of the oil fields are believed to be under control of Jabhat al-Nusra. Some analysts say the decision might also set up a deadly competition between rebel groups over the resource.
In late August 2013 a number of commercial pilots and local residents have reported seeing increased numbers of British military aircraft at RAF Akrotiri including C-130 transports and fighter aircraft.
A vote was held within the British House of Commons on 29 August 2013 to decide whether the United Kingdom would join the United States in initiating militant action against the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Government. Despite support from the Prime Minister David Cameron, the motion was defeated by 285 votes to 272. Cameron said that he would respect this Parliamentary decision and that the United Kingdom would not partake in military action against Syria.
On 19 September 2013, French President François Hollande hinted that France was ready to begin supplying lethal aid to the Free Syrian Army during a press conference in Bamako in a „controlled framework“. Hollande told the conference that „On delivering weapons we have always said that we want to control these supplies so that they do indeed go to the Free Syrian Army … because they represent the Syrian National Coalition that we recognise as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and today they are caught between a hammer and an anvil. The hammer is the air strikes and actions of the Syrian regime and the anvil is radical Islam.”