Five Syrian opposition groups form new coalition

(AFP)

ISTANBUL — Five Syrian opposition groups on Saturday announced the formation of a new coalition, a sign of how difficult opponents of the Damascus regime find it to cooperate, a year after the start of the protest movement.

The five groups, meeting here, said their yet unammed coalition would act independently from the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition coalition which was set up in August to fight President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The new group is made up of the liberal National Movement for Change, the islamist Movement for the Fatherland, the Bloc for Liberation and Development, led by Nawaf al-Bashir, a tribal chief, the Turkmen National Bloc, and the Kurdish Mouvement for a New Life.

Asked about relations between the new coalition and the SNC, Ammar al-Qurabi, leader of the National Movement for Change, told AFP his “coalition was not set up in opposition to anyone, other than Assad’s regime, but rather to unite the opposition outside the SNC.”

“We see the SNC as a temporary structure which will disappear with time, while our own coalition is a more long-term entity that will be there after liberation” in Syria, according to Imamduddin al-Rashid, head of the Movement for the Fatherland.

The SNC has emerged as one of the main voices of the opposition, but is often criticised by activists inside Syria who say the mostly exiled leadership has little connection to protesters on the ground.
The SNC was dealt a blow earlier this week when three prominent members resigned in frustration.

“There is a small group that wants to monopolise the SNC and all the decision-making,” Kamal al-Labwani, one of those who quit, told AFP. “They are doing nothing for the opposition.

“Some are in it for personal gain and the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to monopolise aid and weapons to gain popular influence on the ground.”

Labwani said he planned to call for a conference in Istanbul that would gather all opposition groups in order to pressure the international community to offer them assistance.

“We need a council that plays an effective role in overseeing the armed uprising, represents the revolution, helps with the downfall of the regime and spreads democracy,” he said. “We don’t want another dictatorship.”

The opposition’s lack of unity and transparency has stood in the way of Western and Arab governments giving it military backing, although Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Qatar have increasingly spoken in favour of such a step.

March 18, 2012 | 7 Comments »

Subscribe to Israpundit Daily Digest

Leave a Reply

7 Comments / 7 Comments

  1. Felix, I don’t think your Marxist membership card entitles you to speak for the Syrian Christians – looks like you got a secret agenda.

    http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/26/197075.html

    Syrian regime threatens Christians, clamps down on churches
    Sunday, 26 February 2012

    Many Syrian Christians have been targeted by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad for participating in protests demanding his ouster. (Reuters)

  2. Maybe it can get through the Bot if I post one by one.

    http://syrianfreedomls.tumblr.com/post/19347902263/syrian-christians-rise-unite-to-oust-assad

    “Syrian Christians Rise, Unite to Oust Assad” – Interview with SCD
    What, I asked the Syrian Christians for Democracy assembled around tables pushed together in the lounge of the Hotel George, is the one thing that Americans need to know about Bashar al-Assad?

    “He’s killing kids,” Maroneh native and Boston diaspora leader Essam Francis answered succinctly.

    As Christians, as Syrians, these activists were brought together by the bloodshed sown by the brutal regime that has slain about 8,500, according to the latest United Nations estimates, including the massacre of entire families this week in Homs — 16 members of the Tahhan family, 20 of the Rifaei family, and more, according to the chilling reports of theLocal Coordination Committees of Syria .

  3. Baloney Felix, that is Assad’s propaganda.
    The Christians of Syria predominately support the Revolution adn are right now beign murdered by him. You couldn’t care less about ‘Christians’
    What is Assad giving your Marxists that you are waging a propaganda war for him?