Osama Al Sharif ARABNEWS

TWENTY months after the eruption of peaceful protests against the regime of President Bashar Assad, the situation today spells a different reality. More than 30,000 people have perished so far in drawn-out bloody confrontations between armed dissidents, representing various groups with different political and ideological affiliations, and the Syrian regular army, which remains largely loyal to the beleaguered president.

The fighters have been able to penetrate crucial regions across the country and have “liberated” areas along Syria’s long borders with Turkey, enabling them to receive arms and ammunition funneled through Qatar and other Gulf countries. But fierce battles continue to rage in Aleppo, Homs, Hama and other key towns and villages. It is a fluid situation with both sides making small gains and no one scoring a decisive victory. The Syrian army relies heavily on its air force, artillery and tanks, while the fighters wage street battles with only light arms and some heavy weapons which they gained in the battlefield. It’s an uneven war that has resulted in massive destruction of cities and villages with civilians being the main casualty.

The United States and its Western allies have opted for non-direct involvement in the conflict. They rely on intermediaries to supply light arms and communication equipment to the fighters. CIA operatives working from Turkey have admitted that they have little information on the rebels and recently they voiced concerns that most arms are going to hard-line groups among the fighters and not to pro-West secular ones.

A report in The New York Times this week said officials now have doubts on “whether the White House’s strategy of minimal and indirect intervention in the Syrian conflict is accomplishing its intended purpose of helping a democratic-minded opposition topple an oppressive government, or is instead sowing the seeds of future insurgencies hostile to the United States.” Such fears were confirmed after the Sept. 11 attack in Libya on the US Benghazi consulate in which four American diplomats were killed, including the ambassador.

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