TIME is withholding the real names of the participants, who were largely from the battered northern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour, to protect them. There were four defectors from the Syrian army; three representatives of Syrian refugees from Yayladagi camp (the largest of several camps in Turkey); a few more Syrian refugees who weren't staying in the camps but were responsible for smuggling supplies including food, phones and light weapons to defectors on the other side of the border; and a self-described Syrian military strategist living in exile that we'll call "the doctor," because that's how the men in the room addressed him.
Assad's problem is that, even if he crushes the uprising in Homs, the insurgency has taken root. For a generation Syrians will count themselves as regime or rebel. What can he do? Deport all the non-Alawites? he has been given a free hand by his ally in Russia, but Russia is simply using Syria to its own ends; they will not fight for them or endanger other interests for a sandy, non-oil producer where they happen to have a minor fueling station. No, Syria is quite alone in this struggle, even while the rebels are not.
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