Training the ‘moderates’
"There is no shortage of opposition fighters in Syria, and some opposition members note that most of the moderate forces in the Syrian military opposition are former army officers and soldiers who have defected. Their number is perhaps close to 75,000.
Some 10,000 former policemen have also left Syria and are living in camps in Turkey and Jordan. None of these has been welcomed into the ranks of the existing armed groups, perhaps because their training contrasts with the haphazard ways of the militant outfits.
If the US really wants to see a moderate opposition army take form in Syria, it could call on the services of tens of thousands of well-trained professionals. To form such a force, all the US would have to do would be to find a way of providing quality weapons to former army and police personnel.
Syria also has an ample supply of Islamist and non-Islamist groups willing to fight both the regime and the extremists. Many of these groups have obtained valuable combat experience over the past few years, including the Hazm Movement, the Noureddin Zenki Brigade, the 13th Battalion, the 101st Battalion, the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, and others. Taken together, these groups contain some 50,000 men."