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Can Syria's Moderate, Secular Southern Front Rebels Survive?

(Foreign Policy) Dafna H. Rand and Nicholas Heras - Advances by the Islamic State in eastern and northern Syria are pushing the remnants of the so-called "moderate" armed opposition squarely into the Syrian regime's line of fire. In the south of the country, however, a coalition of 50 armed secular and nationalist rebel groups known as the Southern Front (SF) has been able to hold territory for many months in the governorate of Daraa. The SF coalition, which has forged tactical alliances with the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, falls under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army, but has generally disassociated itself from the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) on the grounds that the SNC has lost legitimacy because it is primarily composed of exiles. Since late 2013 some of these factions have reportedly begun to receive more substantial training and weaponry from Western and Arab countries. The coalition represents the type of partner that the international community seeks in Syria - credible and militarily capable enough to hold contested territory, while willing to countenance a future Syria that is secular, nationalist, inclusive, and respects minority rights. Any freezes in fighting in the north should not allow the regime to use freed-up forces to turn its firepower southward, where rebel rule is providing one of the few blueprints for how Syria could emerge from this crisis. Dafna H. Rand is deputy director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, where Nicholas Heras is a research associate in the Middle East Security Program.
2014-12-31 00:00:00
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