“This is how the Americans talk,” said Tarek Fares, a Syrian army defector who has lately given up on fighting with the opposition. “They say, ‘We have a red line, we will support you, we will arm you.’ They do nothing, and then after four years they tell you Assad is the best option.” [AT THIS, HE CRACKED UP LAUGHING.]... The shifts reflect a longstanding view among United Nations staff members in Syria that the West must adapt to the reality that Syrian insurgents have failed to defeat Mr. Assad. Syrians on both sides have said frequently in interviews that they fear the growing influence of foreign militants, and while they mistrust all international players that have financed warring parties, they are willing to explore compromise with other Syrians Western diplomats who had long called for Mr. Assad’s immediate resignation say now that while he must not indefinitely control crucial institutions like the military, a more gradual transition may be worth considering. One Western diplomat at the United Nations said that while a “post-Assad phase” must eventually come, “the exact timing of that, we can discuss,” as long as the solution does not “cement his position in power.” Western leaders now openly talk about allowing some current officials to remain to prevent Syria from disintegrating, like Iraq and Libya.... At the same time, such statements have reinforced the idea that the West has decided to abandon the opposition and tolerate Mr. Assad, an article of faith now among ordinary anti-Assad Syrians and rank-and-file insurgents. The view that the United States supports Mr. Assad is spreading even among the groups receiving direct American financing, groups deemed moderate enough to receive arms and work with a United States-run operations center in Turkey. A fighter with Harakat Hazm, one such group, said Wednesday that America was “looking for loopholes to reach a political solution and keep al-Assad.” With Karam Shoumali Hwaida Saad et al
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:44:33 +0000
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