Speaking to The Guardian from Turkey, exiled members of Syria’s opposition have written off UN diplomacy and talks of peace-brokering as by and large irrelevant to the crisis.
Dissidents have said that talking had simply consolidated and bought time for the Assad regime, and an end to the turmoil could only be arrived at through all-out war.
The Guardian’s Martin Chulov reports that the UN is largely viewed as impotent by the Syrian opposition.
Houda Idris, an exile from the Syrian port of Lattakia said to The Guardian “What they were talking about [in Geneva] is meaningless. It won’t change things.”
Recovering from a broken leg in a hospital bed in Antakya, Ahmed Julak says
“There is no peace and there is no plan. Nobody listened to Kofi Annan. Not the regime and not us. There is no dealing with these people, and that is the truth. And what is a transitional government?”
“If Assad stays or goes is not the problem. It’s the regime that needs to go. If that doesn’t happen, then no reasonable person can say there has been progress.”
Another man recovering from a bullet wound to his kidney says that as long as Russia continued to push its weight in negotiations, talks could never advance. “We will finish what we started” he added.
Although there has been a significant inflow of light weapons and increased defections from the regime’s security forces, the opposition still seems restricted in its capacity to force change.
More often than not, opposition fighters pay a heavy daily toll and backers admitted to being exhausted by the seemingly unending chaos. Rebel forces however are determined to follow through with the momentum that they feel is with them.
Mohammed Khiari, a defected soldier from Houla has taken refuge in the Syrian village of Qatma.
“I’ve seen the face of this regime, because I was one of their soldiers.
“Negotiations to them are a chance to stall... there is nothing left to do except fight. And we will meet our challenges.”
