Syrian Rebels Rearm, Vow ‘Bigger Conflict’

'We Grew Sick of the Political Solutions,' Rebel Troops Insist

While they’ve been insisting that the ceasefire is “dead” for weeks now, Syria’s rebel fighters have wasted no time capitalizing on the relative lull in violence, spending their time acquiring new and better weapons, even a tank, for the war to come.

And make no mistake, they are convinced that a war is coming. The collapse of the ceasefire deal may come “tomorrow or next week, or it may take longer,” rebel leaders say, but they always add that they see nothing of value coming out of political and diplomatic efforts, and are putting their focus on the “military solution.”

Rebels spend their time learning to use their newly acquired weapons (provided mostly by the GCC nations, and smuggled in with US help), and indoctrinating the population of the rhetoric of their new fight, singing songs about the eventual killing of Bashar Assad, chanting “we don’t need NATO, we will be his end.”

The leadership of the rebel factions continue to predict that full-scale civil war is going to break out at any minute, and that it will be far bloodier than anything which came before. Given the high death tolls of past fighting, this could be extremely serious.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.