Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's victory over the rebels seems almost assured now. Over two years ago with all the revolutionary thought of the Arab Spring, the Syrian Civil War began and today it is estimated that over 100,000 have died in the conflict and more than one million refugees created. Yet Bashar al-Assad's regime remains firmly intact and resolute, even though the region has once again disintegrated into instability following the "coup" of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
Over the last few weeks, the rebels' abilities have been severely hindered and their actions from this point forward appear to be futile, given the sheer power and money that Assad's forces command, as well as the lack of foreign intervention. The rebels attempted to broker a truce for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but Assad rejected this, knowing all too well that victory is just on the horizon, bolstered by the enhanced support of Hezbollah, a Shi'a militant group from Lebanon, who have helped the Syrian Army make inroads, especially by helping them win back the town of Qusair. Furthermore, the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued its support for their fellow Shi'a regime, both economically and through the training of the Syrian Army by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, perhaps one of the best and well-trained militias in the Middle East.
Moreover, Assad has been helped by the lack of action by Western governments, who have nervously tiptoed around fearing a repeat of costly and unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; this being a despotic tyrant who has sheer lack of compassion for human life, and his actions mirror that of his father, Hafez al-Assad, by brutally murdering and torturing his own people. Assad even quipped in response to accusations of mass murder, "When a surgeon cuts a wound, the wound bleeds. Do we say to him, 'Your hands are covered in blood?' Or do we thank him for saving the patient?"
As human rights abuses are unveiled, evidence of the use of Sarin is still inconclusive, but it should not take the use of chemical weapons for governments to intervene in the systematic murder of a population. Any multilateral intervention or support of the rebels should have been coordinated through NATO as it was in Libya; instead, fairly predictably, Russia and China vetoed a proposed UN Security Council Resolution condemning the violence and calling for sanctions in Syria last year. Recent proposals to arm the rebels by the US and UK are as it were "dead in the water", with Congressional committees deliberately slowing down the process as they see Assad's position strengthen day upon day, and see efforts to arm the rebels as a futile and costly gesture.
Therefore, it is evident that the rebels do not have much longer until Assad perseveres; he has the ingredients for success with the backing of Iran, Hezbollah and the de facto backing of Putin, coupled with vast sums of money, experienced troops and a dash of sarin. The rebels however, are splintered, withered and beyond the pale.