The secular opposition in Syria has failed to make much headway. Yet, it remains the main hope for that sad country’s future. The alternatives on offer are a continuation of the discredited and brutal regime of President Bashar Al Assad, or the barbaric fascism of the religious extremists. Neither are acceptable. The civil war can only end with some sort of inclusive interim government leading to a more stable future based on the rule of law and open economic opportunity. The challenge is how to move from today’s nightmare to that happy dream. All developments in Syria need to be measured against that goal.
The priority now is to agree on how to restart the political process, since all the horrors of war are only justified if they are aimed at finding a political solution. The Geneva II conference is the last structure that has been agreed upon and any fresh dialogue has to develop that offer to suit the needs of the hour, without dropping the key element of inclusivity. But talks are useless in a civil war if the parties have not fought themselves into some kind of equilibrium from which they will be willing to speak. This is why the US and its allies in the region are doing good work with the on-going US military support for the secular opposition, for which Congress has approved an initial $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) for training 5,000 soldiers.
US Senator John McCain is leading a group of senators on a visit to the region where he has met national leaders and the Syrian opposition to see how to progress with this work.
It is important that any such work is coordinated with regional allies since in the end, the US military is there to create a Syrian solution. In addition, it is important that the US Congress has overcome initial fears that US equipment may leak out to other elements of the Syrian opposition.
That is not a good-enough reason to ignore Syria and fail to help its struggling secular opposition.
