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UN admits Syria wracked by sectarian civil war - World Socialist Web Site
Bout damn time they admitted it. This isnt a kind of conflict of "all the Syrian people united against the government". This is a true civil war. Truly a very divided civil war, with many people backing the government, and many people backing the rebels. This is exactly why the US should stay out of this conflict.
This is precisely why the US should have fulfilled its internationalist interests and obligations and supported the Syrian Revolution
early. We had an opportunity to back the initial rebel groups which were largely moderate military defectors under the command of Riad al-Asaad, and associated militias and insurgent brigades. By avoiding involvement we allowed a political vacuum to form wherein foreign Islamists and domestic affiliates received an opening to surge and fill the military gap that the FSA (in its initial incarnations) could not match. They had a good pool of disciplined, experienced, and relatively well equipped fighters from across the region to draw on who were prepared for precisely this kind of fighting. That is why despite their small size they had a disproportionate impact on the conflict. Because even though FSA fighters made up the majority of troops at sieges like Hama and Idlib (First Stage) the majority of casualties were inflicted by Islamist ambushes, road side bombings, and other insurgent attacks.
We have allowed the Syrian Revolution to become Chechenized. By holding back support, the moderates, republicans, and secularists have been slowly shunted aside. The process has been put into motion so many times before, Libya, Bosnia, Chechnya, hell even Palestine. The failure or weakness of the original opposition allows first for these Islamists to arise or parachute in as allies whom are co-opted under the banner seeking all assistance possible, then as they achieve success they grow in popularity among a beleaguered people they eventually began to replace the initial opposition, and finally if no support is forthcoming they become the opposition itself as other groups are marginalized, disappear, or are destroyed.
There was a good chance in the first year of this war that real involvement and coordination with the opposition could have led to the tempering of the PYD, and a potential coalition with the KNC in the Kurdish territories, an accommodation with Alawi areas falling under FSA control, and actual influence for the largely secular SNC in government administration. We failed and its probably too late for intervention to have the meaningful impact we desire. The only reason to do it now, is to show that we know where the cards will fall and that we didn't sit the entire war on the sidelines. It is very sad.
Edit: For the record intervention in Syria does not consist, and rarely in analysis or conversation, has consisted of invasion or significant conventional involvement. In the words of FSA commanders and militia officials, they don't want foreign troops they want guns, food, medicine, supplies, intelligence agents, etc. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and their agents and affiliates in Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey have been picking up the slack on this but not in a good way for our concerns and interests. Which is why we should have led on this, not doled it out to our reactionary and conservative allies.
