The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) seemed to reach the apex of its influence inside Syria at the end of February, but an ammunition shortage cost it serious momentum, and it has been all downhill for its side in the civil war since.
The FSA had to dramatically pare back their operations early this month, because ammunition was becoming too dear to simply waste on open-ended gunbattles with Syrian soldiers. Now, the black market bullets are almost impossible to come by, and they are ceding more ground to the Assad regime.
FSA leaders have been expressing annoyance for a while that the international community did not provide the weapons and funding that they felt was implied. At this point, however, even those eager for a regime change might feel the FSA is not a faction to bet on.
With the military-styled FSA, whose leadership and rank and file are mostly Syrian military defectors, struggling to get the civil war back on track, increasingly the rebels are turning to IED and bombing attacks instead of direct conflicts which they simply can’t sustain.
Now, they are turning to terrorism as they are running out of ammo, and out of expectations that — after causing enough mayhem — they were entitled to NATO help.
Perhaps they should join the millions of Syrians in elections coming up. Otherwise, to paraphrase immortal Forrest Gump, terrorist is what terrorist does.
They probably selling them in open market, after all Saudis, Turkish, Jordanian, French, Swedish and UAE are stupid enough to send them some more for free.
“… even those eager for a regime change might feel the FSA is not a faction to bet on.”
Of course not. If most of the FSA members are really defectors from the Syrian army, and not motley of terrorist thugs supported by the west and Saudi/Qatari axis, then they may not want the destruction of their country according to the west’s scenario, and thus are not given any more arms.