Syrian opposition leaders strike unity deal

Activist preacher Moaz al-Khatib is the only candidate to head a new Syrian opposition umbrella group which factions trying to bring down president Bashar al Assad agreed to form yesterday, a delegate involved in choosing the leader said.

Opposition leaders struck a deal yesterday under intense international pressure to form a new coalition.

“At least for the president there is only one candidate — Moaz al-Khatib,” said one opposition source taking part in closed-door discussions.

Delegates, who had struggled for days in the Qatari capital Doha to find unity, said the new body would ensure a voice for religious and ethnic minorities and for the rebels fighting on the ground, who have complained of being overlooked by exiled dissident groups. .

Diplomats and officials from the US and Qatar have particularly been pressing the Syrian National Council (SNC) — whose leaders mostly live abroad — to drop fierce objections to joining a wider body.

“An initial deal has been signed. A final formulation has been agreed and signed,” Ali Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, a delegate for the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood, told reporters.

Delegates said there would be specific representation for women and ethnic Kurds, Christians and Alawites, the religious minority to which Assad belongs.

The coalition’s president will become the focal point for opposition activities in a rapidly developing conflict in which Washington and its allies have been concerned that a sudden collapse of Assad’s rule could see anti-Western militants benefit from chaos to seize control of a pivotal country at the heart of the Middle East.

The SNC, which elected its new leader, George Sabra, on Friday, had lost the confidence of Washington and other powers, who saw it as unable to provide overall direction for the anti-Assad forces and riven with personal disputes.

In marathon talks in Doha yesterday, the SNC had threatened to pull out of the initiative. Qatar’s prime minister and the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates came personally to try to persuade them.

The SNC’s leadership repeatedly rejected criticisms in Doha, saying the body was reforming internally, holding its first leadership election and bringing in more youth activists. But some council members quit over what they said was Islamist domination of the SNC and the failure of women to win any seats on its general secretariat.

However, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists allied to them, gave support to the unity initiative. Delegates said the coalition would try to form a 10-member transitional government within weeks.