Update: Syria's Rebel Fighters Oppose Democracy, Condemn their Exiled Leaders, and are Losing to al-Assad

Sadly, our predictions of a jihadi ascendancy within the Syrian armed opposition are coming true, as seen in three pieces of recent news:

Firstly, the fighters are increasingly turning away from the high ideals that were attributed to them in the early days of the anti-regime protests. UN investigators have reported both that most of the rebels actually fighting the war in Syria don't even claim to want a democracy, or a "state for all" which accept's Syria's religious and ethnic minorities. This means that the radical Islamist and jihadi ideologies being pushed by the al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda, and their allies now dominate the armed opposition -feeding into ever more atrocities and sectarianism. What this means is that, when it comes to the rebels winning, a "military solution" in Syria means a jihadi solution.

Secondly, those fighters inside Syria are disillusioned with their political 'leaders' in exile (amongst whom there are genuine democrats and secularists). Rebels in the interior have released a statement condemning the Syrian National Coalition and accuse it of being unable to move beyond "negativity" and "discord", causing it to fail to represent the Syrian revolution. This comes after the Syrian National Coalition failed, yet again, to even agree on who should represent the Coalition in Geneva talks later this month. The rebels called the Coalition "feeble", and demanded that in future at least half the Coalition's leadership bodies should be made up of "revolutionary forces" -meaning fighting men. Their arguments are even those we described before -that those who bear the burden of fighting should lead. The statement included the words: "The revolutionary forces that have signed this statement will no longer bestow legitimacy upon any political body that subverts the revolution or fails to take into account the sacrifices of the Syrian people or adequately represent them." As we predicted, the struggle between the internal and external 'wings' of the opposition is growing and will come to a head -and when it does, the "revolutionary forces" of the interior (those least supportive of democracy and religious tolerance) will prevail.

Thirdly, Hezbollah has doubled down in its support of al-Assad, and their combined forces are winning again. This week, regime and Hezbollah forces working in concert retook the strategic town of Qusair from the rebels. Qusair is key for al-Assad to keep open his supply lines between Damascus and Lebanon (and the Alawite heartland of the coast), and gives his forces an open path to possibly take back control of Homs Governate. This area is often referred to as the key to the Syrian conflict, and it is hard to imagine any road to rebel victory that does not require them to hold Homs.

Syria's civil war is unfolding into the expected tragedy.