Need for unity in Syria

ARMING THE Syrian opposition groups is an option that could still be considered with the crisis entering a decisive phase.

The international community, however, is waiting to see if President Bashar Al Assad will heed the recent unanimous United Nations call to stop all use of force and start negotiations. All this while, there was a parallel narrative underway for lending support to the Syrian activists and rebels against the regime. So far this option has been flung back and forth without any effective plan coming into shape.

There could be two reasons: First, the larger international community may have wanted to exercise the diplomatic and UN option before jumping into deeper waters and starting off a proxy war. Second, and more important is the disunity among the opposition factions under the umbrella entity, Syrian National Council. It is time Assad sees the writing on the wall and thinks in term of the national unity and the state's peace and stability.