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.

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