'Brink of civil war': Syrian opposition pleads for help

AMMAN?? Syrian dissidents on Sunday formally established a broad-based national council designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad's regime, which they accused of pushing the country to the brink of civil war. Syrians took to the streets in celebration, singing and dancing.

The announcement of the Syrian National Council at a news conference in Istanbul appeared to be the most serious step yet to unify a deeply fragmented opposition. It follows five days of intense battles between the Syrian military and army defectors in the country's central region that raised the specter of all-out armed conflict.

Prominent Syrian opposition figure Bourhan Ghalioun, who read out the founding statement of the SNC at the news conference in Istanbul, accused the regime of fomenting sectarian strife in Syria to maintain its grip on power.

"I think that this (Assad) regime has completely lost the world's trust," he said. "The world is waiting for a united Syrian (opposition) that can provide the alternative to this regime, so that they can recognize it," he added.

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"The council denounces the (regime's) policy of sectarian incitement ... which threatens national unity and is pushing the country to the brink of civil war," said Ghalioun, a respected and popular opposition figure who is also a scholar of contemporary oriental studies at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Story: From peaceful protest to civil war? Violent turn may foretell future of Syrian uprising

The statement issued in Istanbul rejected foreign intervention that "compromises Syria's sovereignty" but said the outside world had a humanitarian obligation to protect the Syrian people.

"The council demands international governments and organizations meet their responsibility to support the Syrian people, protect them and stop the crimes and gross human rights violations being committed by the illegitimate current regime," the statement said.

It said that protesters should continue to use "peaceful means" to topple the Syrian leader.

The declaration and support for the National Council was a significant show of unity from the Syrian opposition after six months of mostly non-violent protests against Assad have begun to be overtaken by more violent resistance.

Armed insurgents, mostly in the central Homs region and in the northwestern province of Idlib near Turkey, have been so far outgunned.

In forming a national council, the Syrians are following in the footsteps of Libyan rebels, who formed a National Transitional Council during the uprising that ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The Libyan council won international recognition and has now become the main governing body that runs the country.

Groups of Syrians poured into the streets in southern and central regions of the country to celebrate the announcement.

Cleric's son killed
The official Syrian news agency said Saturday government forces had regained control of the central town of Rastan, after the most prolonged fighting yet between the army and insurgents who are led, according to residents, by army defectors.

But underlining the more violent turn, Syrian authorities said that the 21-year-old son of Syria's top Sunni Muslim cleric was assassinated Sunday. It was the first attack against the state-backed Sunni clergy who have been a base of support for Assad's ruling Alawite elite for decades.

The cleric, Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, is considered a close supporter of Assad's regime and has echoed its claims that the unrest in Syria is the result of a foreign conspiracy.

In Istanbul, the National Council said that the uprising must remain peaceful but that military assaults on numerous towns and villages, torture and mass arrests were driving Syria "to the edge of civil war and inviting foreign interference."

While few expect a Libya-style intervention in Syria, the declaration was nonetheless a way for the opposition to shake off its image of in-fighting and lack of cohesive leadership.

Although the mass demonstrations in Syria have shaken one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, the opposition has made no major gains in recent months. It holds no territory and still has no clear leadership.

The Syrian opposition consists of a variety of groups with differing ideologies, including Islamists and secularists, and there have been many meetings of dissidents claiming to represent Syria's popular uprising since it erupted seven months ago. But the new council is the broadest umbrella movement of revolutionary forces formed so far.

'Political vacuum'
Members said it includes representatives from the Damascus Declaration grouping, a pro-democracy network based in the capital; the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political party banned in the country; various Kurdish factions; and the grass-roots Local Coordination Committees, which have led protests across the country; as well as other independent and tribal figures.

"The fact that Islamists, secular figures and activists on the ground are now on one council is a significant," a diplomat in the Syrian capital Damascus said.

"But they still have to demonstrate that they could be politically savvy and able to fill any political vacuum. They need a detailed action plan beyond the generalities of wanting a democratic Syria."

The United Nations says 2,700 people, including 100 children, have been killed in six months of protests against Assad, whose Alawite minority sect ? a Shiite offshoot ? dominates the mostly Sunni Muslim country of 20 million.

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The 46-year old president, who inherited power from his father in 2000, blames the violence on armed gangs backed by foreign forces, while his officials say 700 police and soldiers have been killed, as well as 700 "mutineers."

The government has dismissed the opposition organizing outside Syria as a foreign conspiracy to sow sectarian strife.

France has already publicly supported the National Council, but it has not yet won endorsement from the United States or Syria's powerful neighbor Turkey, which has been enraged by what it describes as brutal killings south of its border.

Assad has relied on Russia and China, which have major oil concessions in Syria and do not want to see Western influence in the Middle East spread, to block western proposals for United Nations Security Council sanctions on Damascus.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44752904/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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