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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| West's rebel worries leave Syria strategy struggling |
| 2012-09-17 |
| France may be considering arming Syria's rebels but the U.S. and other Western powers have yet to find opposition figures they genuinely trust as they worry over growing jihadi and sectarian forces. The attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya's Benghazi that killed its ambassador and anti-American demonstrations elsewhere this week over an obscure video that ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad might have no Syria links but will make nervous governments even more cautious. Western officials say there is little doubt a growing number of foreign jihadi fighters are entering the fray, although it is far from clear whether any have direct links to Al Qaeda. But It is just one worry amongst many. "This is not a situation where the U.S. can do much to shape what happens," says Mona Yacoubian, a former State Department official and now fellow and Syria expert at the Stimson Centre. "There has always been a lot of caution within the Obama Administration on Syria and if anything things are getting more complicated." Working with Libya's initially notoriously disorganised rebels, officials complained, was hard enough; but the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al Assad seems even more diffuse. That makes policy-making much more complicated and supplying weapons, or even choosing who to talk to, more of a gamble. "We badly need to identify some political and military leaders who can make clear that they seek a political settlement to bring all fighting to an end," said one Western official on condition of anonymity. "Without that the blood letting reinforces the worst aspects of sectarianism and makes a soft landing ever less likely." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 we need to stop funding the salafis |
| Posted by: Fester Clunter7205 2012-09-17 11:25 |