Preparations to form a new opposition body to replace the Syrian National Council with the Syrian National Coalition are underway, as they've been in the works since the summer of 2012.
According to Alakhabar, "this came shortly after the declaration of what became known as the Geneva agreement on Syria," - a deal struck between the United States and Russia for a political settlement of the crisis.
The US government felt as though the Council was not open to such a solution and so in return set out to form a new opposition coalition, giving former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford the task.
"Ford’s mission, however, faced stiff resistance from the Muslim Brotherhood, which dominated the Council, as well as others in the opposition like Riad al-Turk, who understood early on that the aim of the new formation was to impose a political settlement with the regime" (Alakhabar).
In a newspaper interview on 7 December 2012, Turk freely expressed his reservations about the SNC (the Coalition) despite having agreed to become a member, saying that he was not too excited about it because “it is intended to take the place of the Council, according to the wishes of the Americans.”
The formation of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) over three months ago in Qatar was reluctantly accepted by opposition factions that saw it as a US-Russian vehicle to impose a political settlement on the Syrian crisis.
“The SNC was parachuted down on us to draw the domesticated opposition into a settlement with the regime,” he added. The Russians and Americans “want to exhaust the two sides in order to lead them into a Lebanese-style settlement where there are neither winners nor losers.”
On 14 February 2013, in a meeting of the founding committee of the SNC in Cairo, the Coalition formally agreed to a “political solution,” while imposing some negotiation conditions.
Despite this, there remains two contradictory currents within the SNC still fighting to get their way. One side is moving in the direction of talking with certain elements within the regime, while the other continues to hold out for changing the military balance on the ground.
"The US government felt as though the Council was not open to such a solution and so in return set out to form a new opposition coalition, giving former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford the task."
ReplyDeleteThe Arab League is an organization trying to create regional cooperation and decrease outside influence on political decisions such as new governments. It will be interesting to see the Arab League's opinion on the new opposition coalition. I doubt that AL would recognize it, since they already recognize Syrian National Council, one that was not spearheaded by the United States.