> then why hasn’t the Syrian “freedom fighters” defeated these non-military units and imported…
For multiple reasons, primarily related to marginalization of the FSyA by foreign backers. As can be read in that article, it can be said…
> then why hasn’t the Syrian “freedom fighters” defeated these non-military units and imported combatants?
For multiple reasons, primarily related to marginalization of the FSyA by foreign backers. As can be read in that article, it can be said the insurgency began losing the war when the USA ordered it to respect the ‘cease-fire’ (of 28 Februrary 2016). This went so far that US ‘representatives’ in Jordan and Turkey cut off all supplies to majority of FSyA units, rendering them unable to continue the war against Assad-Regime.
Considering that
a) supplies are the essence of every war;
b) nothing similar is done to curb Qatar’s support for transnational jihadists in Syria, and
c) even less so against IRGC’s military intervention, well.. I would say that there is absolutely no reason to ask such questions like ‘how comes they’re not winning’.
> …just who are these domestic militias and why do they fight under the same banner?
This is explained — and that to extension — not only in the article (i.e. because the IRGC pays them to do so) , but in one of features cited in this article (namely Assad Regime Militias and Shi’ite Jihadis in the Syrian Civil War), plus in two write-ups I’ve posted here on Medium (Understanding the Syrian Civil War: Overview of pro-Regime Militias in Syria & Understanding the Syrian Civil War, Part 2: IRGC-, IRGC-Controlled and Hezbollah Units in Syria).
> If they were not loyal to keeping the state whole and defended against the determined local “freedom fighters,” how could a central government, we claim has lost all legitimacy, trust these home guards with its very existence?
Is explained in the three features linked above, too — plus in such like The Shadow Commander, The Shia jihad and the death of Syria’s army, Inside the Glasshouse, or even Col Hodarenok’s article Here’s Why Assad’s Army Can’t Win the War in Syria. In essence, there are few ‘1000% loyal’ militias (the ‘command and control’ ones), which are watching over everybody else in similar fashion like the regime is watching over everybody in Syria since 40+ years.
But foremost: these are all essentially unimportant, because — as you can read in most of these articles, and dozens of others too — the regime is meanwhile little more but an Iranian puppet. Reason: it went bankrupt already back in November 2011, and is ever since surviving solely thanks to financial backing from Tehran. Since 2013, it’s also surviving solely thanks to the IRGC’s military intervention.
> Perhaps Cooper is not correct. While Western media attention played up any Syrian army officer who declared for the rebellion…
Perhaps I am wrong. It’s certainly so that my reporting about this war is entirely different than that of the ‘Western media’ (of course, it’s different than most of the ‘other media’ too). But then: one would have to read at least some of what I’ve published on WIB and elsewhere, not to talk about various links posted here — and that in a far more careful fashion than obvious, just in order to notice the difference.
Some say that the ‘Devil is in the detail’.