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In advocating a case for extending UK air strikes into Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron outlined a strategy of targeting so-called Islamic State (IS), paralleled with a diplomatic track in which the main opposition groupings sat down with the Syrian regime and worked out a transition of power.
As part of making the case for a robust diplomatic process, the prime minister noted that as many as 70,000 fighters who did not belong to extremist groups were still committed to fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
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[h=2]Ignoring the Kurds[/h]Regardless of the lack of clarity, the 70,000 figure does not include the Kurds.
Their Popular Protection Units (YPG) form part of a larger umbrella movement known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is engaged in battle with IS across a 900km (560-mile) frontline in areas where Kurds are largely the majority ethnic population.
The SDF generally operates in a tense ceasefire with the Assad regime and has even been accused of being in open alliance with it, and as a result the British government does not include the YPG or the SDF - which may have as many as 40-50,000 troops - in its estimate. Link.
Personally, I hope whatever transition to power recognises that "Syria" may not emerge with the same landmass it had before and that nobody tries to enforce an unpopular central govt in the same way we saw with Iraq. There are too many groups with differing and conflicting desires to try and hold under an umbrella govt in Damascus.