Source: Century Foundation
On April 25, an opposition group known as Building the Syrian State (BSS) issued a statement saying it had left the High Negotiations Committee, or HNC, which is the main Syrian opposition delegation negotiating at the Geneva III peace talks. The HNC itself announced on April 18 that it was suspending its participation in the talks, in a move seemingly related to the faltering truce in Syria, but UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he would try to continue to organize some form of discussions.
At this point, reports about Syrian opposition splits may seem along the lines of “the sky’s still blue.” On closer inspection, the split itself turns out to be less than meets the eye—but it provides a window into the world of the Syrian opposition and its enduring structural problems, internal rivalries, and ties to foreign states, all of which have helped render anti-Assad negotiators impotent…