Nemesis in Iraq

 "Although the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and local revolutionary committees have fought to keep alive the vision of a secular and democratic Syria, armed Sunni jihadis, often bankrolled by Gulf sheikhdoms, have increasingly made the running militarily. "

 You would take from Callinicos' formulation that the FSA and revolutionary committees are the only good people, while he refers to the Islamists in fairly racist terms, and you wouldn't get the impression that they have done much of the fighting against Assad, just that they are a stepping stone to ISIS. That Callinicos quotes Patrick Cockburn as an authority on the politics of the region shows quite how out of touch he is with the Syrian revolution.