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Free Syrian Army Defeated, US Entices Saudi Led Terror Group | 6 comments (6 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Moderate Opposition May Join Assad's Forces (none / 0)
West signals to Syrian opposition Assad may stay

AMMAN (JPost/Reuters) - Western nations have indicated to the Syrian opposition that peace talks next month may not lead to the removal of President Bashar Assad and that his Alawite minority will remain key in any transitional administration, opposition sources said.

The message, delivered to senior members of the Syrian National Coalition at a meeting of the anti-Assad Friends of Syria alliance in London last week, was prompted by rise of al-Qaida and other militant groups, and their takeover of a border crossing and arms depots near Turkey belonging to the moderate Free Syrian Army.

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The civil war pits Assad and many Alawites, backed by Iran and its Shi'ite Muslim allies, against Sunni Muslim rebels supported by Turkey, Libya and Sunni Gulf Arab states.

Unlike in Libya in 2011, the West has ruled out military intervention, leaving militant Islamists including al-Qaida affiliates to emerge as the most formidable rebel force, raising alarm among Washington and its allies that Syria, which borders Israel and Iraq, has become a center for global jihad.

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Washington and Russia appeared to be working in tandem on a transitional framework in which Alawites would retain their dominant role in the army and security apparatus to assure their community against retribution and to rally a unified fight against al-Qaida with moderate rebel brigades, who would be invited to join a restructured military.



'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Tue Dec 17th, 2013 at 06:24:15 PM EST
US Says No Role for Assad In Future of Syria (none / 0)
US official: Syrian rebel claims West will accommodate Assad 'patently false'

WASHINGTON (JPost) -- The United States is denying claims made by Syrian rebels this week that Western powers are willing to accommodate the continuation of Bashar Assad's regime. Such claims are "patently false," Dina Badawy, a State Department spokeswoman, told The Jerusalem Post, after rebel leaders cited a conversation in London that seemed to indicate otherwise.

Reuters characterized the story as a sign in a "shift in Western priorities, particularly the United States and Britain."

At the December 13 meeting, the London 11-- a core group of nations with pledged support to organized Syrian opposition-- publicly reaffirmed its allegiance in a statement.

    "We reaffirmed that the aim of Geneva II was to implement a negotiated solution on the basis of the Geneva communiqué, by establishing a Transitional Governing Body with full executive powers agreed by mutual consent."


'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Wed Dec 18th, 2013 at 04:46:16 PM EST
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Free Syrian Army Defeated, US Entices Saudi Led Terror Group | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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