Syria Analysis: Someone is Arming the Insurgents...and It's Working

A Free Syrian Army member fires an RPG-22 on 12 January in Busr al Harir in Daraa Province

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While foreign weapons have been seen in Syria, we have not encountered them on this scale. All this suggests a new, organised, and well-funded effort is under way to ensure that "moderate" fighters are capturing territory and weakening the Assad regime.

It is too early to tell whether there are enough weapons to make a long-term impact. None of them be used as an effective counter to Assad's primary threat, his fighter jets. However, if this is an experiment to see a surge in armament makes a difference, the answer is clear.

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EA Interview: Remembering the Bosnia War, 20 Years Later

Bosnian refugees, fleeing the enclave of Srebenica, in Tuzla in March 1993 (Photo: Pascal Guyot/AFP/Getty)

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We lived in the cellars on little food and were always listening out for shells landing in our neighbourhood. My family always kept an eye on one another and I remember that. when our street was bombarded. an explosive almost killed my son while he was sleeping. When a Serbian friend sought shelter with us he was seen as a traitor among his peers and threated with death. Perhaps this intense fear provided the environment for people to turn on their neighbours so quickly.

There are echoes of the war today in the work of the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. More than 160 defendants have been indicted, from foot soldiers to Presidents, with the intent of showing that international law can be upheld.

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