Syrian rebels to receive US training to fight Assad, says opposition official
'The senior FSA official praised Washington’s “response” to the FSA’s calls to amend the military plan and allow the FSA to target not just ISIS, but also Assad regime forces. “This is something that we insisted on.” '
If you are abandoned by the world, especially when you are derided as the problem and any aid you receive seen as the problem, it's a good idea to be extra grateful for any actual help. But you can see clearly from this that getting rid of Assad has never been part of America's plan. It's not surprising that the US is happy to see dictators remain in power, the question is why the rest of the world has refused to help Syria, to stop the carnage, the destabilisation of the region and the rise of ISIS that have resulted from letting Assad get away with murder. There's a report that 3000 rebels in the Qalamoun have allied with ISIS*, because they receive no support, and the alternative is giving in to Assad and the sectarian foreign legion that is Hezbollah. People have been forced to such desperate choices when they are given no alternative. It isn't the safe option to say nothing can be done to help, that's how it's got as bad as it is.
*[http://www.almasdarnews.com/…/3000-fsa-fighters-defect-isi…/]
Note 23/02/15: I've now seen that Al-Masdar News is an untrustworthy pro-Assad source.