The Guardian: "Syria's War More Complex Than Ever As Both Sides Face Internal Divisions
Nice, succinct analysis of the state of play in Syria, although the headline's reference to "both sides" facing internal divisions isn't borne out in the body of the article. There's nothing about divisions on the regime side.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/19/syria-war-stalemate-assad-rebels
The battlefields of Syria are now more complex than they have been at any point during the civil war. With plans for a second Geneva peace conference again percolating, it remains unclear who the anti-Assad opposition might send, or who they might claim to represent.
Ground into what even Syria's deputy prime minister Qadri Jamil admits is a stalemate, and lured towards an increasingly violent standoff with jihadist groups, Syria's moderate or mainstream armed opposition have had few wins lately. Two and a half years into the war, the common ground staked out at the start is now a bitterly contested field of competing interests that seriously imperil the opposition's reason for taking up arms in the first place.
More than 1,000 units now make up the anti-Assad forces, and while many can still unite behind the stated common cause of ousting the president, many others show no such discipline or even a will to work towards a pluralistic, democratic society if, or when, the Syrian leader falls.
Things are no less complex on the regime side. The standing Syrian military has been supplemented by a home defence force, the clout of Hezbollah and a large number of Shia fighters from outside Syria who have increasingly taken positions at the vanguard of the fighting.
<snip> more at the link