But the video, which
human rights monitors say appears to be genuine and not a regime
propaganda "plant," may also inflict long-term political damage on the
already challenged reputation and credibility of the Syrian opposition,
despite earnest condemnation of the alleged atrocity by the umbrella
rebel organization, the Syrian National Coalition.
Simon Tisdall
Human Rights Watch said this week the video "appears to show" a commander of a rebel Syrian brigade called the Independent Omar al-Farouq brigade mutilating the corpse
of a regime opponent. "The figure in the video cuts the heart and liver
out of the body and uses sectarian language to insult Alawites," a HRW
statement said, adding: "At the end of the video [the man] is filmed
putting the corpse's heart into his mouth, as if he is taking a bite out
of it."
The HRW statement said:
"It is not known whether the Independent Omar al-Farouq brigade
operates within the command structure of the Free Syrian Army. But the
opposition Syrian National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army leadership
should take all possible steps to hold those responsible for war crimes
accountable and prevent such abuses by anyone under their command ...
Any party with the power to do so should do all it can to keep weapons
from reaching the brigade."
The last sentence is
particularly pointed, given the accelerating debate in the U.S. and
Britain on whether to arm the rebels. The past two weeks has seen a
concerted effort by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
to rally support for an international summit on Syria to discuss a
peace agreement and a transition of power from the regime led by
President Bashar al-Assad to a new opposition-led government.
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When David Cameron travelled to Washington and New York
this week, he was pushing a similar agenda. In White House talks with
Barack Obama, the British prime minister stressed the urgent need for a
diplomatic settlement, but also reiterated that Britain (like France)
was considering supplying weapons to the rebels after the EU arms
embargo expires at the end of this month.
Pentagon officials have meanwhile indicated that the U.S. is moving closer to providing weapons and other lethal assistance to the rebels. Up
until now, it has not done so, although the CIA has reportedly been
involved in routing weapons supplied by Gulf state sympathizers to the
rebels.
Cameron also pressed his
case in Russia, during a Black Sea meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin. Like Kerry and Obama, the British see Moscow's support
for al-Assad as the key obstacle to ending the Syrian civil war. But
Putin continues to suspect that the western nations are pursuing regime
change in Syria, and that they are looking for an excuse to intervene,
as Nato did in Libya two years ago. He has refused to join calls for
al-Assad to step down.
Upping the ante, Cameron
subsequently announced that Britain would double its non-lethal aid to
the opposition over the next year and that it was looking at ways to
provide more technical assistance to the rebels.
The new humanitarian support of £30 million ($46 million) takes the
UK's total contribution to the Syria humanitarian crisis to £170
million, according to Downing Street.
All these well-laid
diplomatic stratagems in Washington and London could be set at nought if
alleged rebel atrocities, such as this week's video, and other misdeeds
turn international public opinion against the opposition.
The rebels were already
facing an uphill battle for support. Republican members of the U.S.
Congress and right-wing commentators have long warned that elements of
the rebel forces are linked to al Qaeda,
and that arming or otherwise supporting them would be to repeat the
same mistake the U.S. made when it armed the Afghan mujahedeen in the
1980s (when Afghanistan was occupied by the Soviet Union).
The mujahedeen mutated
into the modern-day Taliban, formed an alliance with the late Osama bin
Laden in the 1990s, and have since turned the expertise they attained in
defeating the Red Army against Nato forces which entered the country
after the 9/11 attacks.
Putin has voiced similar fears in September 2012,
suggesting the West could be creating a monster in backing Sunni Muslim
groups against the Alawite-led regime. Moscow argues, in effect, that
better the devil you know (al-Assad) than the devil you don't (an
extremist Sunni successor regime).
Oddly, perhaps, these
western voices of caution find themselves in de facto coalition with
Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shia Muslim allies of the Assad regime.
Meanwhile, a senior U.N. official suggested recently that the rebels were guilty of using chemical weapons (which they deny).
On top of all this, the opposition faces another question, bigger than all the others: can it win? According to the U.N., the Syrian civil war has claimed an estimated 80,000 lives
so far, with millions more displaced or forced into foreign exile. The
rebels control large tracts of territory, but they have failed to seize
and hold major cities, and the balance of battlefield fortunes swings
back and forward inconclusively.
The regime has proved
tenacious, resourceful and stubborn. Al-Assad and his allies have
nowhere to run. For them it is a fight to the death. The rebels,
meanwhile, comprising myriad local groups and leaders, continue to lack
strong central direction or agreement on what a post-Assad future might
look like.
It may be that a
compromise deal on a new government including existing members of the
regime and some rebel elements will ultimately prove the only way to end
the war. This week's video horror increases pressure to halt the
bloodshed as quickly as possible -- even if that means some kind of
patched-up deal, unpalatable, unsatisfactory and impermanent though it
will undoubtedly be.
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