Gulf Countries Throw Money at the Syrian Problem. Will it Work?

I’m intrigued by one of the outcomes of the “friends of Syria” conference:

Rebels fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria will be paid salaries, the opposition Syrian National Council has announced. Money will also be given to soldiers who defect from the government’s army, the SNC added, after a “Friends of the Syrian people” summit in Turkey.

First I thought the wealthy gulf nations are trying to incentivize more people to fight the Syrian regime. But that didn’t make a lot of sense because these people are risking their lives daily to fight, and a few extra dollars won’t significantly transform their motivation. But then I read this:

“The SNC will take charge of the payment of fixed salaries of all officers, soldiers, and others who are members of the Free Syrian Army,” SNC President Burhan Ghalioun told the conference.

Aha! If you remember, the SNC is having a crisis of legitimacy with the Syrians fighting on the ground. If they become the party that is paying them Salaries, it will immediately be clear who the boss is. It’s the golden rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules. In that respect, the plan can be seen as an effort by the opponents of the Assad regime to unify the opposition behind the SNC.

I’m still skeptical of the effectiveness of this plan, if only for the logistical nightmare this will create. How can you tell if someone is fighting the regime? Will the SNC issue identification cards to FSA members? How can you prevent the massive amount of potential fraud this can create? Fraud that can easily be orchestrated by a cash-strapped regime.

This could turn out to be a brilliant plan, but throwing money at an intractable problem is not always a panacea.