2012-11-12 08:45:26

New coalition seeks to oust Syrian president Assad


(Vatican Radio) The road to forming a new coalition came to an end on Sunday in Doha, Qatar when Syria’s fractured opposition groups agreed to join an assembly whose ultimate goal is to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

This coalition, known as “The National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary Forces and the Opposition" will be led by reformist Damascus cleric Mouaz al-Khatib who was elected President. In a speech he said it was the coalition’s aim to build a free, just and fair society in Syria:

“We need humanitarian aid, and we need to stop the bloodshed, and we need to work in order to get rid of this regime and to build a free and just and fair society in Syria.”

Arab and Western backers including the United States had strongly promoted the plan for the Doha meeting to unite the various factions in the hope the coalition can form a government in exile.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, Elizabeth Jones says her country wants to co-operate with the new coalition.

“We want to work with and cooperate fully with this new coalition,” she said, “because we share the goal of Bashar al-Assad leaving power.”

The conflict in Syria has seen over 36 thousand people killed and thousands more have fled the country.

It has also led to tensions with neighbouring countries. The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots into Syria at the weekend, after a mortar round from Syria hit an Israeli outpost in the occupied Golan Heights.

As the violence also continues inside of Syria the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who was in Doha for the talks, said there was "no excuse now" for the international community not to recognise the Syrian opposition.

Listen to Ann Schneible’s full report: RealAudioMP3







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