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The Syrians are better suited to sort out their internal divisions than anyone else.

We should be robustly assisting the Free Syrian Army with equipment and also with training.

The Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Al Qaeda in Iraq are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria.

ISIS is a battle-hardened, highly trained organization that is well-funded. They're one of the strongest armies in the world for their size.

You cannot defeat Islamic State with airstrikes only. It's necessary to cooperate with ground troops, and the Syrian army is the most efficient and powerful ground force to fight the Islamic State.

Here's the problem the Free Syrian Army has. They really want to topple the regime in Damascus, and this is where most of the fight takes place, between Aleppo and Damascus for the Free Syrian Army.

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad belongs to the small Alawite sect and is therefore considered a heretic by many Sunnis; al-Assad runs a secular regime, and therefore he is considered by Sunni militants to be an apostate, and he is inflicting a total war on his Sunni population.

The U.S. Armed Forces are the best trained, best equipped fighting forces in the world.

Armies are not only for offensives.

While all Alawites fear vengeance against their entire community should Assad fall, there are varying degrees of loyalty to the Assads.