Not to let jihadists travel south into Syria or convoys with arms shipments, or political figures like John McCain, but to keep the gangs of Al Qaeda and Islamic militias outside. The Free Syrian Army has been routed and commanders have been assassinated by Islamist or Al Qaeda groups.

Britain's policy on Syria has just been sunk, and nobody noticed

(The Independent) - The final bankruptcy of American and British policy in Syria came 10 days ago as Islamic Front, a Saudi-backed Sunni jihadi group, overran the headquarters of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) at Bab al-Hawa on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey. The FSA, along with the Syrian National Coalition, groups that the United States and Britain have been pretending for years are at the heart of Syrian military and political opposition, has been discredited. The remaining FSA fighters are in flight, have changed sides, or are devoting all their efforts to surviving the onslaught from jihadi or al-Qa'ida-linked brigades.

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The US and Britain stopped the delivery of non-lethal aid to the supply depot at Bab al-Hawa as the implications of the disaster sank in. The West's favourite rebel commander, General Salim Idris, was on the run between Turkey and his former chief supporter and paymaster, Qatar. Turkey closed the border, the other side of which is now controlled by the Islamic Front.

Takfiris in Syria execute FSA secretary general

A single source from Teheran has announced the Takfiri terrorist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has executed secretary general of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) Ammar al-Wawi.

'Sapere aude'

Op-Ed: Moonwalking in Syria

(LA Times) - Here's how feeble U.S. influence on the outcome of Syria's dreadful civil war has become: For the Obama administration's diplomacy to succeed, it now needs help from an armed group with the unpromising name of the Islamic Front. Many young rebels, following the money (and, more important, the weapons), voted with their feet and joined the Islamic Front.

And that brings us to the situation in Syria today: a civil war among four main factions, in which the group supported by the United States, the Free Syrian Army of Gen. Salim Idriss, appears to be the weakest.

Last weekend, the headquarters and main warehouse of the FSA were overrun by troops of the Saudi-funded Islamic Front. The attackers made off with much of the U.S.-supplied equipment there, including trucks and food rations (but not weapons, officials say).

...
The dust-up had the effect of both embarrassing Idriss, who spent much of the week denying that he had fled the country, and confirming the most important new fact on the ground: The strongest player in the opposition now is the Islamic Front, a loose alliance of seven factions that wants Syrians to live under Sunni Muslim law.

"They're Salafists but not extremists," explains Andrew J. Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy [Utter nonsense, Salafists are part of the militia and terrorists in Tunisia, Libya and Maghreb - Oui]. What that means is that although members of the front want a government dominated by devout Sunnis, and they probably aren't reliable pluralist democrats, they're at least not Al Qaeda-style terrorists.

That's why U.S. diplomats have been trying to persuade the Islamic Front to join -- or at least endorse -- the peace conference that's scheduled to begin in the Swiss city of Montreux next month.

The top U.S. negotiator on Syria, Ambassador Robert Ford, met in Turkey recently with representatives of the most important faction in the Islamic Front, sources told me. But the outcome of the talks isn't clear, and in previous statements, the Islamic Front's leaders have said they will not participate in any talks that include the Assad regime.

Egyptians Reject proposed new US Ambassador Robert Ford

'Sapere aude'

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.

○ Rethinking Syria (in a Big Way); Assad's Gotta Stay
○ Iran, Saudi among 30 countries invited to Syria talks, so-called Geneva 2

'Sapere aude'