Syria’s main opposition alliance, the National Coalition, has elected a new president, reports AFP.Hadi al-Bahra, the coalition’s chief negotiator at the failed Geneva II peace talks with the Syrian government, was chosen at a meeting in Turkey.
He has close ties to Saudi Arabia like Ahmed al-Jarba, whom he replaces.
Though it is backed by the US and Gulf Arab states, the National Coalition has little influence over the rebels trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
The hardline Islamist and jihadist fighters that dominate the rebel movement reject the alliance’s exiled leadership.
One group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis), has announced the creation of a “caliphate” in the territory under its control in northern and eastern Syria, as well as in the large swathes of neighbouring Iraq.
‘Not seeking power’
The National Coalition has repeatedly warned of the threat of Isis and called on its foreign allies to arm rebel forces to counter the gains made by the al-Qaeda breakaway.
“While Assad’s allies have been supplying him with unlimited support, the aid provided by the Friends of the Syria [an alliance of Western and Gulf states] to mainstream rebels has decreased to the minimum level. The flow of arms to the Syrian rebels has almost stopped lately,” spokesman Louay Safi told Wednesday’s meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sile.
