Syria's rebels unite to oust Assad and push for democracy

Opposition groups form national council to 'achieve the wishes and hopes of our people in overthrowing the current regime'

guardian.co.uk, Agencies in Istanbul, Sunday 2 October 2011 

Burhan Ghalioun said the national council categorically rejects any
 foreign military ­operation to bring down President Assad.
Photograph: Reuters

Syria's main opposition groups have agreed to form a national council to overthrow President Bashar Assad's regime in what appeared to be the most serious step yet to unify a fragmented opposition.

Members of the Syrian National Council (SNC) said it would be an umbrella group for opposition groups inside and outside the country and a vehicle for democratic change.

The council aims at "achieving the wishes and hopes of our people in overthrowing the current regime … including the head of this regime," according to a statement read by opposition figure Burhan Ghalioun at a news conference in Istanbul on Sunday.

The development came after another bloody weekend in Syria's six-month uprising which has left 2,700 dead, according to UN estimates.

In one of the fiercest clashes of the insurrection, Syrian troops finally took control of the town of Rastan after five days of intense fighting with army defectors who sided with protesters. Syrian authorities said they were fighting armed terrorist gangs.

The Syrian opposition consists of a variety of groups with differing ideologies, including Islamists and secularists. The new council is the broadest umbrella movement of revolutionary forces formed so far.

Ghalioun said that the council aims to present a united front for the opposition, and urged Syrians everywhere to support it. He said he was not worried about whether the international community recognised the council, although it would provide a single body with which other countries could coordinate.

Ghalioun said it included representatives from the Damascus Declaration grouping, a pro-democracy network based in the capital, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, Kurdish factions and the grassroots local coordination committees which have led protests across the country, as well as other independent and tribal figures.

He said the council categorically rejects any foreign intervention or military operations to bring down Assad's regime but called on the international community to "protect the Syrian people" from "the declared war and massacres being committed against them by the regime".

The council's statement said that protesters should continue to use "peaceful means" to topple the Syrian leader, but there have been increasing reports of some protesters taking up arms to protect themselves.

The organisers have not named a leader for the national council, but appeared to give a leading role to Ghalioun, a scholar of contemporary oriental studies at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Bassma Kodmani, another Paris-based academic, said the council consists of three bodies: a general assembly, a general secretariat and an executive committee. Leadership of the council will be rotated, she said.