Russia-U.S. Standoff over Syria: Why a Peaceful Deal with Assad Is the Only Way out

... Syria, whatever form it takes, would still aim at weakening the Assad regime to give the rebels a strategic edge. But a point which seems to be completely ignored by the Obama administration is that the opposition in Syria is not homogeneous. As Mr. Putin puts in his recent op-ed in the New York Times, "There are more than enough Al-Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq ...