Despite the continuation of the regular army's attacks, Ghalioun asserted, “The FSA is stronger than before, repelling the attacks and showing progress in several areas. The rebels’ military positions are strong, except in Homs, which is a weak front that has been under siege for the past few months. Moreover, it is very difficult to provide supplies to young men in Homs, but we have not lost hope.”

“Two months following the regime's adoption of a scorched earth and total destruction policy, Homs has turned into a desert. But the regime’s major attack failed to produce any results. The regime believed that such an attack would deal us a fait accompli, especially since it expected the Geneva conference to be held,” he continued.

“The regime has lost momentum. It did not achieve anything in Damascus, Ghouta or Aleppo . We expected its attack to lead to the fall of the city, but we are now expecting the regime to be ousted from Aleppo. The weak point may be Homs. The regime took over the Khaldiyeh neighborhood ... but the fighting is ongoing along its peripheries.

“The regime is not achieving any progress on the three major fronts. On the contrary, the Free Syrian Army ( FSA ) has realized new achievements in the Aleppo countryside, Aleppo-Idlib Road and in Damascus and its countryside. Despite the regime’s fierce attack for two months now, it has not achieved any progress, rather, it has lost some new sites. Khan al-Assal is much more important than Qusair, and it is without a doubt a top-priority strategic area. Moreover, according to military members the regime’s attack has failed,” he said.

Former president of the Syrian National Council (SNC) Burhan Ghalioun told Al-Hayat that the Syrian opposition delegation notified French President Francois Hollande, during a recent meeting, that “the progress of the regime on the ground in Qusair and other cities does not mean its victory.”

Regarding the West’s opinion that arming the rebels is dangerous since the weapons may fall into the hands of Jabhat al-Nusra or other extremist Islamist elements, Ghalioun said, “This argument is a pretext to cover a reluctance to provide arms, since arming the opposition implies a greater involvement by the Americans and Europeans in the war. Providing qualitative weaponry would make them responsible for any loss or defeat, and cause them to be more involved in the Syrian war. This is why they are afraid and show reluctance.”

“There are several guarantees that the weapons will not be given to extremists, especially since Jabhat al-Nusra now possesses sophisticated weapons, which we do not have,” continued Ghalioun. “The main guarantee is to hand over these weapons to forces organized in a classical way, and that the presidency of the FSA’s general staff forms a unit raging between 5,000 to 6,000 troops that adhere to the same military structure and training under the direct supervision of the central command. The second guarantee is to deliver weapons to reliable groups in specific areas.”

On the relationship between the opposition parties, Ghalioun said: “We should admit that there was a crisis within the opposition, even before the SNC was formed. Once it was formed, it appeared to be that there was a bloc of some forces. The other parties were afraid of participating, such as the coordinating committee and others, because they live in Damascus and fear the regime. These circumstances are objective. The SNC was subject to attacks from internal and external [parties]. It was said that the Muslim Brotherhood is controlling the SNC, but this turned out not to be correct. We formed the [Syrian National] Coalition, in which there were contradictions and a real crisis. Within six months, the image of the opposition has been wrecked by differences.”

He added, “Yet, now and after the coalition was expanded, democratic forces joined it, and as the Brotherhood has only eight out of 115 representatives, the coalition is moving toward organizing itself by establishing internal and external ad-hoc committees, assigning some to do relief work, and others to do public relations work.”

He pointed out that the coalition “is currently concerned with better involvement in restructuring the FSA," including "integrating units, establishing a central command and providing better training to troops."

"As for the government, I am not sure about its formation. It can be an executive authority affiliated with the coalition that works on recovering the resources, such as oil, which are controlled by some battalions, and on rebuilding international relations, which were shaken due to the coalition’s crisis, be they with Arab countries in the Gulf or Egypt.

"The tour, which started in Saudi Arabia, then the UAE, Qatar, France and the UN Security Council in New York falls within the framework of this major mission. We also have to work with countries in Latin America and Africa. This is the program of the coalition. Its implementation depends on resources. We have promises that [we will obtain] resources to reshape the FSA and to develop relief [work]."

Ghalioun explained that the coalition will complete its tour with visits to Washington, London and probably Moscow. “A delegation of the coalition met with the UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Paris. He was interested in knowing the date of our meeting on Geneva II. The coalition expressed its expectations that such a meeting will not be held within less than two or three months, following consultations with Arab allies and all parties of the Syrian opposition, both within or outside of the coalition.”