Syrian Opposition Digs in as International Community Remains Indecisive

With the insurgent groups meeting in Turkey this Sunday to organize themselves into a cohesive force, and the Friends of Syria joining them in a show of support and to gather information about what they can do to help the insurgents, the al-Assad regime jumped on the bandwagon today with a startling announcement: “The rebel movement has been broken.” The humanitarian watchdog groups keeping up with events in Syria say that 10,000 people have been killed in the year-long insurrection, and that it is not clear that the regime has as yet won anything.
The rebel commander Salim al-Kordi, spokesman for the Syrian Army faction that has left al-Assad and joined the insurgents, said that the rebels will not stop until “the tanks are withdrawn from all cities.”
The Friends of Syria includes some 70 nations, but it does not include Russia, China or Iran - three stalwart friends of al-Assad and his large contracts for military equipment, and his making available ports on the Mediterranean for Russian naval vessels…ain’t love grand???
Notwithstanding, the Syrian army continues to bomb pockets of resistance in major cities, and the rebels themselves are calling on the international community to arm them for the battle ahead.
In fact, the Arab world seems to be awakening to the fact that al-Assad and his cronies will only be driven out with force (something the US seems to be sadly unaware of), and so Saudi Arabia and Qatar are calling for arms to be provided to the newly organizing cohesive force.
That the Saudi chief diplomat, Saoud Al-Faisal, called for arming the rebels while standing next to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is surely a telling move to embarrass America into coming to terms with the need for arms to save the Syrian people.
Again Saturday, 32 Syrians died, 24 of them civilian, as the al-Assad regime took advantage of splits still in the opposition leadership and in the indecision in the international community to attack.
While Secretary Clinton did not agree to provide arms, she stated that she is sceptical that the Anna plan to have a daily ceasefire to evacuate and treat the wounded will have any impact on al-Assad’s regime, saying, “Until today, regime forces continue to pillage and set siege to cities an rebel enclaves, and to use as shields those who are at prayer.”
Hillary Clinton seems to be making the case against her own position.
Belgium announced Saturday that it is favorable to using military-protected humanitarian aid if that will deliver the assistance needed to Syrian civilians.