The decision to support the opposition fighters in Kobani is part of a slow move to more international intervention in Syria. During 2011, the international community had abandoned Syria to its fate. Various United Nations-backed conferences led nowhere and at that time, nothing would convince the West or most Arabs or Turkey to intervene militarily as the grim civil war left 200,000 people dead and created more than 8.5 million refugees (2.5 million outside Syria and six million inside). Even the use of chemical weapons by the government did not shock the US into leading a call to intervene. An initial desire to back the secular opposition, the Syrian National Council, was harmed by its poor military performance and willingness to work with a growing number of Islamist groups who also opposed the Bashar Al Assad regime.
But this determination to let the assorted factions in Syria simply fight it out has changed profoundly with the arrival on the scene of the murderous Daesh (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). A new coalition of 50 regional and international countries has been formed to destroy Daesh in Iraq and they have made this their top priority. In turn, this has led to a willingness to consider intervening in Syria since Daesh cannot be beaten without the coalition tackling it in both Syria and Iraq.
US Congress has approved a $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) programme to re-arm and train the Free Syrian Army and various other members of the anti-Daesh coalition are pushing for a more interventionist policy in Syria. This may well take shape over the next few months, but it lacks any political and strategic structure.
Turkey is still very hesitant about such actions, but a new crisis emerged when Daesh looked likely to capture the Syrian border town of Kobani, which led to an international outcry to help the opposition. This was resisted by the Turks, who were sticking to the old strategy of staying out of Syria. But the new American priorities led to a compromise under which, the US asked Turkey to agree to let the Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan reinforce the Kurds of Syria, although this involved American air transport taking US-supplied arms to Kobani.
