The Syrian Resistance Coalition: An Unstable Partnership

Indianapolis, IN

Currently the Syrian Arab Republic is being racked by two different conflicts. The first conflict is the original bipolar war between the status quo al-Assad regime and the revisionist Syrian Resistance Coalition (SRC) and the other is the recent tripolar intra-SRC civil war within the wider civil war. The purpose of this paper is to look at what factors have contributed to the effective breakup of the SRC. This breakup of the coalition has resulted in the creation of three new poles including a secular-nationalist pole, a non-jihadist pole, and a jihadist pole; all three of which sometimes cooperate and sometimes compete with one another for dominance in the coalition. While all three poles remain committed to the civil war against the regime in the short term, differing interests and long term goals have created the current schisms that divide the SRC. For now the SRC's purpose is to merely create temporary unity against their shared foe and delay greater violence amongst one another. Overall competition over rival interests for post-war Syria has effectively broken up the previously united SRC and led to its current status, thus adding a new dimension to the Syrian Civil War.