Even as the Syrian army has made sweeping advances across parts of his country, the Syrian Support Group (SSG) has been riven by internal divisions and struggled to raise funds.
The group had been considered a potential game-changer whose money-raising abilities would equip the militants with much-needed modern weapons.
But instead of using a unique US license to funnel funds to the opposition, the group has spent months pursuing a fruitless dash to make millions of dollars from Syrian oil.
One former staff member has alleged that the leadership had become "obsessed" with landing a jackpot oil deal and lost sight of its core mission to back the foreign-backed insurgents.
The head of the SSG in Washington resigned last month after the group failed to gain real traction with US officials and its London operation is under threat of closure after falling foul of the Government.
The Foreign Office has demanded the group repay thousands of pounds from a grant after determining that some of the money was improperly spent.
Over the past few months, the Syrian army has made major advances regaining control over key rebel towns and cities including most of Homs, all of Qusayr and was reported on Wednesday to be advancing on the Aleppo suburbs.
Its success has come as well-armed terrorist groups have turned on the more moderate mainstream opposition militants who have complained of being starved of weapons.
The West had hoped the SSG, founded in the US in December 2011, would channel support to what it calls more moderate militants in Syria and in May last year it was granted a coveted Treasury license allowing it to skirt American sanctions on the country.
But private donations dried up after the US State Department warned the SSG that its funds could not be used for weapons. Instead according to David Falt, a whistleblower who served as SSG's European government affairs director, the group turned its efforts from fundraising to pursuing large and controversial oil deals under the leadership of Brian Sayers, a former NATO official.
Falt has revealed internal emails between Sayers and others, containing proposals to raise money by selling rights to Syrian oil output.
"Brian and some others were obsessed with the oil. The idea they could raise hundreds of millions from the sale of the oil came to dominate the work of the SSG to the point no real attention was paid to the nature of the conflict," said Falt.
Syria's oil is a deeply sensitive issue for opposition militants determined to avoid the taint of corruption and undue Western influence that any deal would provoke.
Walid Saffour, the Syrian opposition's political representative in London, said there was no authority for any branch of the anti-Syria coalition to sell oil rights or grab resources before the collapse of the government and its replacement by a new regime.
Mazen Asbashi, the president of SSG who is now trying to restructure the organization, said the group's board was eventually forced to pull the plug on the oil proposals after becoming uncomfortable with the activities of Sayers.
"There were early preliminary discussions but they were never pursued in any serious way," Asbashi said. "The oil-related issues are complex and our organization is focused on facilitating non-lethal support to the Syrian Military Council."
Members of the board claimed that they ordered Sayers to call off the proposals. "He was way out in front of where we were comfortable," said one board member who accused Sayers of "freelancing".
But Sayers said both the board and Gen. Salim Idris, the head of the Syrian Military Council (SMC), were supportive of the idea of using oil money to help fund the unrest. "There was no disagreement on the principles of that issue and the notion that somehow I was overreaching is absolutely false," he said.
As the discussions were continuing, Gen. Idris sought Western backing for an attack on the other terrorist groups that controlled the oilfields. "When we have a well-armed battalion and you send it to the oilfields, others will see this is a central force protecting national resources and not a specific group taking over to sell oil," he told the Financial Times.
A spokesman for Gen. Idris did not return calls from The Daily Telegraph seeking comment on SSG's activities.
The SSG has maintained lobbying operations in Washington and London but has secured just two small-scale government contracts in 14 months.
One of those contracts provoked an objection by the Foreign Office over the use of a British grant to establish an office overlooking Hyde Park for Saffour. The office was on the same floor as Cherie Blair's consultancy firm, Omnia Strategy. The SSG's European arm, founded by Sayers and a veteran Whitehall lobbyist with ties to the oil industry, Andrew Gifford, has since been asked to reimburse the Foreign Office for parts of the grant.
Saffour told The Daily Telegraph that he had been forced to move out of his office and had not yet found new premises. "Unfortunately the SSG was unable to carry on renting the office for a lack of funds, he said. "I never asked them where the money came from."
The Foreign Office said it was not currently providing support for Saffour and had recovered furniture and other equipment from the office. A spokesman said it would rigorously examine future use of its resources.
The SSG has seen its bids for more contracts from the Foreign Office slip into "abeyance," according to Donald Maclaren, a former British ambassador to Georgia who works for SSG.
Asbashi said the future of the European operation was under discussion and would not rule out closure. He admitted the SSG has never had more that $200,000 in its accounts. "We're struggling to keep the lights on," said one board member.
BA/BA