THE fall of the Syrian town of Idlib to armed religious extremists led by the Nusra Front shows that the civil war in that country is increasingly desperate.

Coming so soon after the same terrorist group trumpeted its seizure of Busra Sham in alliance with a number of other ultra-conservative outfits such as Ahrar al-Sham, the rebel victory shows that the secular government in Damascus is under threat.

While some on the left hailed the wave of protests demanding democratic reform which swept across Syria in 2011, it rapidly became clear that opposition to the Bashar al-Assad government was dominated by hard-line Sunni Islamist groups intent on establishing a theocratic state, with all the repression of minority religious groups, women, progressive forces such as trade unions and secular groups that we see in the Gulf state monarchies.

Western governments lined up behind the anti-Assad cause and have paid scant attention to the sort of forces they are backing. Loudly repeated commitments to assist only "moderate" rebels may or may not be believed by the US and EU politicians mouthing them, but have proved a nonsense in practice. 

"Moderate" groups have sold, or sometimes even given, weaponry to the extremists, including Islamic State (Isis) and Nusra Front.

Both organisations now control significant swathes of Syria and have implemented their brutal medieval ideology in those areas, murdering prisoners, killing civilians of the "wrong" faith and executing children as young as 10.

In that context, the response of the US' chosen "government in exile" - the toothless Syrian National Coalition (SNC), whose proud boycott of ceasefire talks with the government might matter more if it actually had any supporters inside Syria - marks a shift from the naive to the criminal.

Idlib has become the second provincial capital in Syria to fall to rule by religious fanatics - Isis already controls Raqqa - and the SNC welcomes "an important victory on the road to full liberation of Syrian territory." 

Then the coalition expresses "confidence" that those now in charge of the city will protect civilians and observe international law.

But Nusra Front is the regional branch of al-Qaida, not an organisation famed for its concern to prevent civilian casualties or its reverence for international law.

The SNC's posturing seems out of place. This hotch-potch group of pro-US liberals, founded in Qatar and headquartered in Turkey, will never be handed power by the Islamist groups it eggs on - indeed, most have specifically rejected its authority or right to speak for them.

Most likely these comfortable exiles hope that if the government in Damascus crumbles, Washington will take action to install them in office. This was behind its call yesterday for "decisive" Western action to help "opposition" forces.

This stance alone displays their contempt for the democracy they purport to stand for.

It also displays an astonishing failure to learn from the chaos engulfing Libya, where Nato's removal of a secular regine and installation of so-called "moderates" was almost immediately followed by an explosion of religious terrorism, a civil war wit no end in sight and a "government" driven from the capital, issuing ineffective decrees to an unheeding people.

A situation not so unfamiliar to the members of the SNC, perhaps. But meanwhile Syria's bloody civil war rages on, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions, with fighters and weapons pouring in from across the region and no side able to end the country's torment.

Russia's attempt to host peace talks between Damascus and its opponents represents the only plausible way out. Western governments should stop arming and funding terrorists and put pressure on any opposition groups they do influence to accept Assad's offer of negotiations.