Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The Syrian opposition, defeated several times by
President Bashar Assad’s military, intends to reorganize in what is
expected to result in new leadership.

The opposition was to reassess policy and its leadership at a
meeting in Turkey on March 22.

Joshua Landis, a U.S. professor and director of SyriaComment, said that opposition leaders would embrace the Sunni revolt against the Assad regime. Landis, regarded as close to the State Department, said the  Muslim
Brotherhood-aligned Syrian National Council was undergoing a “period of soul searching and transformation” in wake of the defeats in Homs and Idlib.

“Opposition leaders on the ground, those who are actually fighting the regime, have already become more militant and Islamized,” Landis said. “If the SNC doesn’t scramble to catch up, it will become irrelevant.”

Landis outlined Syrian opposition strategy as maintaining guerrilla
warfare in an attempt to place Assad’s forces on the defensive. This would include bombings, assassinations and abductions of those aligned with the regime. At a later stage, he said, the rebels could assault Assad’s military
and security forces and try to capture parts of Syria.

“The Syrian opposition prematurely tried to hold territory and take on
the Syrian Army,” Landis said. “This was a bad and costly mistake.”

“There is no council,” Kamal Labwani, an SNC leader who quit in
mid-March, said. “It’s an illusion.”

SNC has been criticized for the defeat of the rebels in such provinces
as Homs and Idlib in March. The council has been accused by critics as
autocratic and refusing to build a coalition with secular or liberal
opposition groups.

SNC chairman Burhan Ghalioun is expected to be the casualty of the new
opposition strategy. Ghalioun and his allies in the council opposed the
militarization of the civilian drive against Assad, particularly the Free
Syrian Army.

A high-level Syrian defector, identified as Abdul Majid Barakat, has
disclosed official documents that reflect Assad’s anxiety over the revolt.
The documents, relayed to Qatar’s A-Jazeera satellite channel, included
directives to security forces to crush protests in Aleppo, Damascus and
Idlib as well as measures to stop defections.

“However security chiefs paint a beautiful picture in their reports,”
Barakat said. “They ignore many substantial facts on the ground simply to
boost the president’s morale.”

Farid Ghadry, head of the Reform Party in Syria, agreed. Ghadry cited
reports of Russian special operations forces being sent to Syria in late
March as rebel forces attacked Aleppo and Damascus. Russian sources said the
Kremlin was seeking to protect its estimated 200,000-member community in
Syria.

“With all these events taking place so suddenly, would it be safe to
assume that something extremely important has just happened in Damascus?”
Ghadry asked. “Since when does Russia care about its people to send special
forces to protect them? Something is really up in Damascus, and if I have to
make a bet, it must be regime supporters flipping against their boss.”

  ‘More militant and Islamized’ Syrian rebels shifting to guerrilla ops, Bashar Assad, Burhan Ghalioun, Farid Ghadry, Free Syrian Army, Homs, Idlib, Kamal Labwani, Russian special forces, Syrian National Council