Assad playing dirty to crush revolution

For the past one year the strategy of Bashar Assad’s regime pivoted on the notion of crushing the uprising through the use of force by strengthening the latter’s capabilities by importing arms and forces from Iran, Iraq and Hezbollah. It is mainly due to these factors that Assad succeeded in clinging to power throughout the year while battles are neither won nor lost. Despite all the huge reinforcements, he could not defeat the opposition that have sieged the capital again and blockaded the airport road and is rivaling him over the rest of the country. Practically, Assad’s plan has failed and it has become difficult for his Russian and Iranian allies to make more sacrifices without any ray of hope. The fall of Assad’s regime is just a matter of time. His time could only be artificially prolonged. The regime’s new move is not to fight the Free Syrian Army, which has served as the backbone of the Syrian revolution for more than two years; it is rather to damage it from the inside. The rivaling “Islamic Front” group emerged suddenly out of nowhere. It distanced itself from other groups like Daesh and Al- Nusrah Front. Later three leaders, along with their battalions, announced their departure from the Free Syrian Army, including Ahmad Isa Al-Shiekh, Zahran Alloush and Saddam Al-Jamal, with the latter being quoted as saying that the reason for separating from the group is that he was not happy with the foreign support. Though the veracity of the claim could not be verified. These discords, whether genuine or part of the war propaganda, shows an attempt to weaken the only military force that represents the Syrian revolution and that had been fighting non-stop since the beginning of the uprising. Other armed groups and battalions do not represent the revolution because they are either representing certain revolting districts or areas or an extension of militant groups, which are an extension of the Al-Qaeda group fighting in Iraq, Yemen and Somalia, and who had been used by Assad’s regime in Lebanon and Iraq during the last decade. Interestingly, most of the dissidents are allying with the new Islamic Front group, which was founded at a time when the regime’s vulnerability had become visible. And now comes the question: Can the dissidents and other militant groups linked with Al-Qaeda defeat Assad’s regime? Absolutely not, but they are capable of damaging the Free Syrian Army. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arab Today.