Under Russian fire, Syrian rebels blame West for abandoning their fight

World

Under Russian fire, Syrian rebels blame West for abandoning their fight

Amid a Russian-backed regime offensive in Aleppo, rebel factions in Syria say they face defeat without imminent military aid from the U.S., Turkey and other allies. Since last week, Russian airstrikes and regime troops have cut off rebel supply lines from the Turkish border to Aleppo. Tens of thousands of city residents have fled toward the border in fear of a protracted siege, raising tensions with Turkey, a key backer of Syria’s opposition. The rebels’ battlefield setbacks have shone a spotlight on an apparent pullback by their international supporters ahead of failed U.N.-led peace talks last month to resolve Syria’s conflict.

For the last year we haven’t received anything. The U.S. is preventing everyone from supplying the opposition with weapons out of fear they will fall in the hands of Islamic State.

Bassam Hajji, a political officer in a CIA-backed rebel group in Aleppo

One consequence is that beleaguered rebel groups are likely to deepen their collaboration with more Islamist-oriented factions seen as more effective fighting forces. The overlap between groups has long been contentious, as the U.S. fears indirectly arming rebels that aren’t vetted. However, rebel commanders argue that (what the West considers) moderate rebels and jihadist alliances were born not out of ideological affinity but necessity. They blame the international community for allowing the Syrian regime to kill civilians with impunity over the past five years, while the West blames Russia for airstrikes that are disabling opposition groups and “directing enabling” ISIS.

The regime and its allies cannot pretend they are extending a hand to the opposition while, with their other hand, they are trying to destroy them.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre