A rebel fighter aims his weapon as he takes a position on the frontline against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the Handarat area, north of Aleppo, November 11, 2014. Hosam Katan/Reuters

Syria Rebels In South Emerge as West's Last Hope As Moderates Crushed Elsewhere -- Newsweek/Reuters

With moderate rebels facing defeat by al Qaeda in Syria's north, groups holding a corner of the south are seeking a higher profile and more help, as the last Western-backed forces holding out against both President Bashar al-Assad and the jihadists.

The southern rebels, described by Western officials as the best organized of the mainstream opposition, say they are the last hope for a revolution hijacked by jihadists. In recent days they have laid out a transition plan for a Syria without Assad, taking on a political role that in the past they left to others.

Washington says backing "moderate" rebels is central to its new strategy to defeat the jihadists without helping Assad, put in place since the United States began bombing Sunni Islamist fighters from Islamic State in Syria in September.

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My Comment: Syria is now a country that has been completely radicalized deeply divided along sectarian lines .... Alawite Shiites/Christians/sectarian groups on one side .... Sunni extremists on the other .... and as for "moderate" rebels .... they no longer exist.