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U.S. Preparing Options for Aiding Syrian Opposition
(Foreign Policy) Josh Rogin - The U.S. National Security Council has begun an informal interagency process to create and collect options for aiding the Syrian opposition, including gaming out the unlikely option of setting up a no-fly zone in Syria, two administration officials confirmed. Other options under consideration include establishing a humanitarian corridor or safe zone for civilians in Syria along the Turkish border, extending humanitarian aid to the Syrian rebels, and engaging more with the external and internal opposition. Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that the administration was caught off-guard by how the opposition became militarized so quickly. "We assumed, incorrectly, that the civil resistance strategies used in Egypt and Tunisia were being adopted by the Syrian opposition, but that didn't happen."