Using air power isn't that easy. Syria ain't Libya, you don't have those vast stretch of desert where you can target the army with minimal casualties. Bombing Syria could even backfire, because it would make Assad's claim that the opposition is made of foreign-paid thugs much more credible. That and the inevitable civilians casualties could make a lot of Syrian people side with Assad.
Firstly, yes, as far as transporting material of war to a warzone, Syria is like Libya. There are these things called roads that most things have to be transported on, and they are mightily vulnerable from the air because they don't move very much. For what isn't necessarily transported by road; and that's tanks and such, it's fairly hard to hide a tank nowadays from what I can gather and either they move them around in force or they risk them being overrun by rebels. You'd have to have a great big tunnel that it can't shoot out of to protect it. That doesn't sound like (in a worst case scenario where they are in the city already because they made it there on the above mentioned roads and children are playing on the tanks like it wasn't a warzone) something that the civilians would worry about. Now, if they are already in the cities, then that's where infantry shines against tanks if that can ever be spoken without being smote for military heresy.
Creating a government-in-exile has been done, it's the Syrian National Council. The problem is that it doesn't have much on-the-ground legitimacy. And that won't change: the Free Syrian Army aren't going to recognize people sitting outside Syria as a legitimate government.
sarcasm-> Yeah, I'm sure the rebellious Syrian army wouldn't recognize them. Just like they'd refuse any help whatsoever offered from outside if it offered them a glimmer of hope to them in their time of war. You remember the whole communists side with the capitalists against the fascists type deal not so long ago that people still living haven't lived through it? The Russians didn't say, hell no you built those Shermans, Lees, Churchills, Hurricanes and P-40/P-39s in a capitalist pig country!
Secondly, from that same link it says that the SNC is in direct control of the Free Syrian Army.
The Syrian National Council (Arabic: المجلس الوطني السوري; Kurdish: Encumena Nîştimaniya Sûriye ; Turkish: Suriye Ulusal Geçiş Konseyi) (al-Majlis al-Waṭanī as-Sūri), sometimes known as SNC,[2] the Syrian National Transitional Council,[3] or the National Council of Syria is a coalition of Syrian opposition groups based in Istanbul, Turkey. It formed as a Syrian opposition coalition in 2011 during the Syrian uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad.[4][5] After the formation, the council itself asked for international recognition, but denied seeking to play the role of a government in exile,[6] but this changed a few months later, when violence in Syria became increasingly intense.[7][8][9] The Syrian National Council seeks the end of Bashar al-Assad's rule and the establishment of a modern, civil, democratic state. The SNC National Charter lists human rights, judicial independence, press freedom, democracy and political pluralism as its guiding principles.[10] SNC runs the Free Syrian Army, a paramilitary that is composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel, who have been active during the uprising.[11][11]
Nah, it's a mess, and the sad truth is that we're mostly powerless. At best we could negotiate with the FSA and other armed groups, promising support (especially weapons) in exchange for submitting to the SNC, and making clear (they did it already, but repeating ti never hurt) that there will be no sectarian revenge after Assad's fall, and that they'll protect everybody from such attacks. Then maybe establish safe havens, officially for humanitarian purpose but also to serve as training and fallback areas for the FSA.
No, we are not powerless. We (as in my side) are extremely powerful and we hold ALL of the good cards. The more you speak the more I think it's not so much we as you and I. I think you might have some kind of interest in seeing Russia's policies see themselves to fruition and it's your job to say things in support of such things,
internet person I hardly know.
Referring to bolded: You know what, that's uncalled for and probably will start an unfruitful argument since it could apply to myself so I apologize in advance. So that's that. But that said, reverting to 'this is hopeless you should give up' is not a good way to convince people.
Author
Topic: Egypt and the world and Libya - Now without Ukraine! (Read 377170 times)