Despair Rises As Syria's Civil War Grinds On

Excitement Fades To Despair In Rebel-Held Syria As War Grinds On -- Tom A. Peter, Christian Science Monitor

Early rebel optimism in Syria has given way to a grim realization that victory may still be years away. For the past two months, civilians have been fleeing Syria at a rate of 8,000 per day.

Before war came to Aleppo, Syria, Abu Anas was a well-to-do landscape architect who paid a considerable sum to send his children to private school. Now an opposition fighter, he spends his time away from the front line preparing his three sons, the oldest of which is 10, for the possibility of military service.

Abu Anas doesn't want any of his sons to join the fight until they are men, but he acknowledges they may not wait.

"I hope the revolution is victorious soon, but I think it could take up to 10 years," he says. "If I die before we obtain victory, my sons will be able to continue fighting," he says.

"I will not be happy if my children leave the school to fight, but what can I do? I hope it will not come to this, but if this does happen I will be proud of my sons. It means that my sons have learned a good lesson: not to let a dishonest person control the country."

More than two years into Syria's uprising, and almost a year since the Free Syrian Army (FSA) began fighting in Aleppo, it's hard to find anyone here who will offer an optimistic prognosis. At best, residents and fighters still believe in the revolution but accept that it will take much longer than they expected to remove President Bashar al-Assad. At worst, onetime supporters now question whether the revolution was worth the costs and find themselves at odds with both the opposition and Mr. Assad.

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My Comment: At the beginning of the year I had concurred with Russian intelligence that predicted publicly that Syria's Assad government would implode by the end of this year. They did add a caveat to this prediction .... if Iran/Hezbollah/etc. intervened, this may change the dynamics. Well .... they are intervening .... and the civil war is now stalemated .... and the despair is rising. But what I have also noticed is that no one on the rebel side is talking about quitting .... and more to the point .... they have resolved to themselves that regardless of how long this lasts this is a fight this to the finish. So this is now a fight to the finish .... a fight that probably means a few more years of violence and bloodshed.