by Staff Reporter
May 31, 2013 (TSR) – An independent UN investigator said that the majority of the foreign-backed opposition militants who are fighting the Syrian government don’t want democracy.
Speaking to reporters in Paris, Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro said it was hard to distinct between the good and the bad opposition militants.
“It was said the opposition forces were angels, but there is only a minority of fighters with a democratic history who believe in the Syrian mosaic and want a state for all,” he said.
“The majority of opposition forces are very far from having democratic thoughts and have other aspirations,” Pinheiro added.
“There is a very complicated distinction between the bad and the good opposition forces,” he said.
Pinheiro leads an independent team of some two dozen experts mandated by the United Nations that documents crimes committed during the conflict.
On Monday, the European Union effectively lifted an arms embargo that could allow countries to arm certain opposition forces by failing to agree to renew it.
Pinheiro declined to comment on that decision, but suggested identifying groups “acceptable” to the West was difficult.
