There are over 1,000 armed opposition groups in Syria against Assad. I have read of numbers as high as 2,500.

The "Free Syrian Army" itself is an umbrella organization with dozens of different units.

Therefore, I find it ludicrous that we can even reliably categorize the opposition as secular/moderate or Islamist, even though we know all these ideologies exist on the ground.

What I can say with certainty is that the Sunni Arabs have a polarizing choice if they are to protect themselves from sectarian violence: they can support or join an Islamist group (including the extreme forms of AQ and IS) or the secular/moderates.

If we continue to allow the Iranians, Russians and Shia irregulars to primarily attack secular/moderate opposition forces (or the most secular/moderate of the opposition) then AQ and IS will come to dominate the opposition.

And unless anyone plans on using nuclear weapons, there will be millions of potential recruits...