Syria Civil War Goes on as Rebels Form a United Front

President Obama has given the green light for the US to provide non-military aid to the Syrian rebels. The statement came during a meeting between the President and the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, both present in Seoul, South Korea, for a nuclear summit, and before an April 1 meeting of the recently formed “Friends of Syria.”
Mr. Obama mentioned specifically communications aid, saying that if the rebels are to consolidate and organize, they need communications systems. He also talked about medical aid.
The United States remains opposed to providing military aid to the rebels, for fear of escalating the violence into a generalized civil war.
Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan is in Moscow to try to convince the Russian government to put pressure on the al-Assad regime to end the violence. He is meeting with Russian President Medvedev and with Russian foreign minister Lavrov. Annan will continue on to Beijing Tuesday to continue his efforts to bring China on board, too.
President Medvedev told Annan that his efforts at peacemaking may be the last hope before a long and murderous civil war takes hold in Syria, adding, “For this reason, we give you all our support at every level.”
But, Russian foreign minister Lavrov reminded Kofi Annan that Russia is opposed to foreign intervention in the internal affairs of Syria, and would not support overt support for either side in the crisis. Lavrov said that the best thing would be for the rebels to enter into a ceasefire and sit down to negotiate with the al-Assad regime.
Apart from the ongoing diplomatic efforts, the Syrian rebels announced Saturday that they have formed a unified front and will meet in Turkey this week to work out the formal details of the union.
Al-Assad forces, meanwhile, have restarted their bombardment of Homs, attacking another area of the city, as well as attacking another city to the north, both in efforts to crush the opposition in its major strongholds.
A British-based human rights observer group said that 46 people died Saturday, 28 of them civilians. The New York-based Human Rights Watch showed video evidence of the al-Assad forces using human shields during assaults in the northeast region of Syria. The shields included children being forced to ride in tanks while they swept through towns.
I don’t know, dear readers, exactly where the demarcation between rebel fighting and civil war is, but it seems to me that whatever is going on in Syria is, and has been for some time, a civil war.