Moderate Syrian Rebels Plead for More Western Help

Moderate rebels in Syria are losing ground in their two-front war against the Assad regime and the extremist group Islamic State, and are pleading for more support from the West.

As the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State delivered airstrikes and military aid to help Syrian Kurdish militia fighting in the city of Kobani over the past week, the Western-backed Free Syrian Army bemoaned the absence of similar help, as it lost towns and suburbs in and around the major cities of Damascus, Aleppo and Hama to regime forces.

President Bashar al-Assad ’s military bombarded the opposition with more than 500 airstrikes and killed 750 people in one week, according to rebels and opposition groups monitoring the civil war.

“No one sent us weapons like the Kurds in Kobani,” a senior brigade leader in the FSA, said by phone from the city of Hama. “This has really affected FSA fighters’ morale. They feel disappointed.”

The moderate rebels have also been asked to come to the aid of the Kurds who have been fighting for more than a month to fend off an Islamic State assault on Kobani, on Syria’s northern border with Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that his country would allow 1,300 FSA fighters to move through Turkish territory to aid the city.

Rebel fighters from a force also battling Islamic State militants 
run through an Aleppo neighborhood Thursday during a fight 
with regime forces. Reuters

Mr. Assad’s recent gains have prompted the FSA to request more Western aid and weapons to fight both Islamic State and the regime, senior rebels said. The FSA said it would fight Islamic State if the U.S.-led coalition helps rid them of Mr. Assad.

“Are we the U.S. hands on the ground?” said Khaled al-Khaled, spokesman for the Hazem Movement of about 7,000 moderate rebels under the FSA’s command. “If so, then support us with the arms and logistics we need to strike.”

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