Growing Syrian Rebel Opposition to US Attack

US Threats Widening the Rebel Division

A growing number of Syrian rebel factions from across the spectrum, but particularly those of an Islamist bent, are coming out against a US military attack on Syria, saying they believe such a strike is being done for the benefit of the US government, not the Syrian people.

Syrian rebel factions had long sought to suck the US into a war with Syria on the assumption that it would lead to the administration installing them as the new regime. As US officials insist regime change is not being considered, US bombing campaigns aren’t looking nearly so good.

If anything, the notion of the US insinuating itself into the Syrian Civil War is making the division between the Syria military defectors that remain in the US good graces and the foreign Islamists that are dominating the rebellion on the ground all the more apparent.

As the US talks about escalating the war, many of the foreign factions now see themselves as potential targets of the US war, as the administration has made clear that it doesn’t want them to win the ongoing civil war either, and seems more than willing to hit anyone and anything inside Syria as part of its planned offensive.

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.