Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — The Syrian opposition has been quietly meeting with NATO to
discuss the establishment of another no-fly zone in the Middle East.

Opposition sources said their leadership has convened with key members
of NATO to examine the formation of a no-fly zone mission over Syria. They
said the no-fly zone was vital to stop the regime of President Bashar Assad
from using its fixed- and rotary-wing military aircraft fleet against the
hundreds of thousands of protesters.

“This issue is under serious discussion in the decision-making circles,”
opposition leader Radwan Ziyadah said.

On Oct. 28, thousands of Syrians held demonstrations that called on the
international community to impose a no-fly zone. The demonstrators called on
the United Nations and the Arab League to protect them from the Assad
regime.

Ziyadah, a member of the Syrian National Council, said the opposition
was lobbying for a United Nations Security Council resolution that would
establish a no-fly zone over Syria. He said the opposition was also pressing
the international community to approve the formation of a buffer zone along
the Syrian border with Turkey as a haven for defecting soldiers.

The sources said the United States, which withdrew its ambassador from
Damascus on Oct. 22, was pressing other NATO allies for military
intervention in Syria in an effort to oust Assad. They said Turkey has also
agreed to host any NATO operations as well as establish a buffer along the
Syrian border.

“We consider the ambassador’s withdrawal a strongly-worded American
warning to Damascus and the prelude for an imminent American escalation to
curb the massacres that are committed against the Syrian people after
concluding the Libyan matter and turning to the Syrian dossier,” Ziyadah,
director of the Syrian Strategic Studies Center, said.

The sources said the opposition leadership was heartened by the
assertion by U.S. Sen. John McCain that the international community could
soon examine the feasibility of a no-fly zone similar to that imposed by
NATO over Libya since March. They said the no-fly zone would harm the
Assad regime and hasten the pace of defections from the military.

A no-fly zone was also expected to significantly bolster the growing
rebel forces, many of them comprised of defectors from Assad’s military. The
sources said the protest against Assad was giving way to armed operations
amid the regime crackdown that has killed more than 3,600 people.

“I believe there are two reasons why demonstrations will significantly
diminish,” opposition activist Louay Hussein said. “First, the violent
oppression by the authorities recently and second, the increase in the
number of armed operations by groups opposed to the authorities such as the
Free Syrian Army. Moreover, I worry that if we fail to reach a homegrown
settlement of the conflict very
quickly, we will clearly witness different aspects of a civil war in the
near future.”

  Bashar Assad, NATO, NATO in ‘serious discussions’ on no-fly zone, no-fly zone, opposition leader Radwan Ziyadah, Syria, Syrian opposition, UN Security Council