Much as in the Spanish Civil War, moderate forces that were neither Fascist nor Communist may have been weak and fragmented. Lack of support for them did nothing to strengthen their case when it might have done, while massive support from Fascist regimes on one side and Communist parties on the other made sure that the eventual outcome would be a choice between two equally worst-case scenarios.

Just as in 1939, when the Nazi- and Fascist-backed victory of General Franco and his Nationalist Falange was the prelude to a regional war that eventually engulfed the entire world, a victory for Assad, backed by  Iran and Russia, will persuade his sponsors that their adversaries are a paper tiger — with all the attendant consequences. Western democracies have, yet again, made the perfect the enemy of the good.

By choosing not to take sides — or by limiting its intervention to small arms supplies — the West is depriving itself of the chance to influence the final outcome of the war. And whatever that outcome is, our stance will harm us in the long run.