MOSCOW, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Some Western countries intend to form a "coalition of the willing" instead of directly intervening in the Syria crisis, a Russian expert has said.
Some Western nations, including the United States, seem to "search, organize and set up" a great coalition of the willing, Vladimir Sotnikov, a senior research fellow with the Moscow-based Institute of World Economy and International Relations, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
The coalition, with the participation of NATO and some Arab countries, would support directly and indirectly the opposition forces fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, but was unlikely to involve directly in the military conflict, Sotnikov said.
The recognition of "the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces" as legitimate representative of the Syrian people by many countries and organizations is a strong signal that some major outside players show their political support to the opposition, despite criticism for failing to have a united vision of solutions to the prolonged crisis.
Meanwhile, military gestures, such as the U.S. aircraft carriers' presence near the Syrian water, the NATO approval of deploying Patriot missile systems in Turkey's border area and its warships' cruises near the Syrian coast "are actually aimed at demonstrating that they are morally supporting the opposition forces," Sotnikov said.
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