Here’s How Syria’s Opposition Government Essentially Went Broke
▻https://news.vice.com/article/heres-how-syrias-opposition-government-essentially-went-broke
While recent rebel gains in Syria fuel speculation about the future of besieged President Bashar al-Assad, the country’s opposition government in exile is floundering after a string of setbacks have hampered its credibility as a viable alternative and undermined its standing in United States foreign policy.
The Syrian Interim Government (SIG), based in Turkey, oversees liberated Syria and refugee affairs in neighboring countries, implementing projects that range from supporting local councils inside Syria to coordinating relief efforts. In 2013, it presented the best hope for a government that could take over a democratic, post-Assad administration. But the opposition has since been mired in a vicious cycle of mistrust, mismanagement, and alleged corruption, and has grown increasingly marginalized since the US prioritized attacking the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria above Assad’s removal.
After war broke out in Syria and Assad became a pariah, the US organized a group of more than 100 countries that formally recognized the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces — a parliamentary assembly of revolutionaries in exile, expatriates, and former military commanders — in late 2012. The National Coalition formed the SIG the following year to ensure the delivery of public services and oversight of legal duties for civilians in opposition-held areas, and to serve as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.