Bloomberg View: What to Do With Syria

The executions of more than 100 people in Houla and Deir al-Zour last month confirm what we already knew: Syria’s Sunnis and Alawites are in a civil war. President Bashar al-Assad’s claim that terrorists conducted the slaughter of fellow Sunnis to create an international outcry is laughable. The evidence gleaned by a United Nations effort led by Kofi Annan suggests the Alawite Shabiha militia, working in tandem with the government military, was responsible.

Pressure is rising for the Obama administration and its European, Sunni Arab, and Turkish allies to act. Suggestions range from arming Syria’s opposition (Mitt Romney) to launching Libya-style airstrikes (Republican Senator John McCain) to creating safe zones (Democratic Senator John Kerry). None have explained how they would control the aftermath of a successful intervention that the U.S. and its allies would then own. Nor have they explained what part of the fragmented opposition forces they would arm and coordinate with, or how to avoid widening the conflict to a regional Sunni-Shiite contest.