DAMASCUS, Syria — It's tempting to view the Syrian conflict in terms of good versus bad, the people wanting free of the oppressive regime, the majority Sunnis versus the powerful minority Alawites. However, only two weeks ago I heard an Alawite woman in Damascus call one victim of a government assault a shaheed (martyr). At the same time I also spoke to a well-to-do Sunni man who considered the armed opposition’s struggle foolish and ineffective.
Those who oppose the regime continue to do so, but their criticisms are no longer leveled solely at the regime. Some activists I spoke with felt that the Free Syrian Army had been wrong to move so far away from the opposition movement’s early days of peaceful popular protests.
