A Friends of Syria Tri-Partite Oversight Coalition...why not?

Syria's interior minister, who was wounded in a rebel suicide attack in Damascus on December 12, stopped his treatment at a Beirut hospital Wednesday and returned home for fear of being arrested by Lebanese authorities under international arrest warrants being prepared against him. Meanwhile, Syria's chief of military police defected to the opposition, becoming one of the highest-ranking officers to switch sides and join the opposition during the 21-month-old revolt against al-Assad's authoritarian rule. Military pressure continues to build on the regime, with government bases falling to the rebels near Damascus and elsewhere across the country. Dozens of generals, along with thousands of ordinary soldiers, have defected since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass became the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition during the uprising, which anti-regime activists estimate has led to more than 40,000 deaths. Today, regime shelling in the province of Raqqa killed at least 20 people, including eight children and three women. Rebel forces took control of another regime base in the northern province of Idlib. The base, Maaret al-Numan, has been under siege for weeks. But none of this compares to the massacre of at least 60 men, women and children who were shelled and strafed several days ago while they were standing in line to buy bread from a bakery re-opened after the Red Cross managed to supply it with flour. The bakery was in a town recently secured by rebel forces after a violent fight, and those killed had not had bread or other food for several days and were waiting patiently in line when the regime attack occurred. Al-Assad's media characterized the attack as a "terrorist" action. A more coldly brutal attack by al-Assad would be hard to imagine. China is silent these days, offering neither support nor condemnation to al-Assad. And with Russia's President Putin still cautiuosly separating himself and Russia from al-Assad, one wonders what the world is waiting for - it should certainly be able to find a face-saving compromise for Russia if it had the will to do so. Dear readers, I could imagine a tri-partite "Friends of Syria" Oversight Coalition that would replace al-Assad. It would look to the Syrian rebel coalition for day-to-day government and political arrangements, while providing funding and oversight for the rebuilding of Syria's infrastructure and also back-up intelligence and military support to prevent independent jihadist militia from dividing the country into helpless fiefs, as has occurred in Libya. The tri-partite Friends of Syria Oversight Coalition could be composed of the United States leading a UN contingent, as well as contingents representing the Arab League and Russia. In this way, Russia would have a continuing presence in Syria and could use it to try to re-develop its traditional commecial, but not military, relationship with the new Syria. There are surely other possible solutions to dealing with Russia's dilemma, but we need to have world leadership capable of creating and selling them to the world community...something sorely lacking for the moment.