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Syria opposition agrees to united coalition
Syrian opposition groups meeting in the Qatari capital have
signed an initial agreement to form a united group called the Syrian National
Coalition.
Details of the agreement are still being negotiated; a
delegate at the talks told reporters they would discuss specifics at meetings
on Sunday night.
"An initial deal has been signed. The evening session
will be for electing the president of the body and his deputy," Ali
Sadreddine al-Bayanouni, a Muslim Brotherhood delegate at the talks, told
reporters.
The Syrian National Council - once seen as the leading
representative of the opposition but now seen in the West as dominated by
out-of-touch exiles - had come under increasing pressure to accept a unity
plan.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Doha where
the opposition groups were meeting, said on Sunday that the new coalition was
crucial because it is expected to go forward to set up the new transitional
institutions and how to move forward to topple the regime of President Bashar
al-Assad.
They are trying to work out the final details of the
agreement, which is how many seats are to be given to the main opposition
parties, our correspondent said.
"We have started an open dialogue with our brothers
and looked at their initiative," the SNC's new leader George Sabra said
earlier in Doha before the coalition formation announcement.
Sabra said "the SNC is older than ... any other
initiative" on the table, adding
that no opposition group should be forced under the banner of another.
'Declaration of principles'
Ahmad Ramadan, a senior SNC official, said: "We are
being submitted to pressure to accept being part of a new formation, in
exchange for international promises but with no guarantees."
Ramadan had suggested it would be "difficult to reach
an agreement" on Saturday, but added the meeting may come up with a
"declaration of principles" in order not to end in failure.
But Burhan Ghalioun, the former SNC chief, was optimistic
before Sunday's developments.
"The meeting is still on, but there has been real progress.
There will be a political agreement for common action, a political body to
supervise military action," he said.
The SNC had already twice asked for a postponement of the
talks on plans for a broad-based government-in-waiting.
Its counter-proposal envisages the formation of a
provisional government pending a general congress of the opposition, according
to a document seen by AFP news agency.
The existing plan, inspired by Riad Seif who is reportedly
seen by the US administration as a potential new opposition chief, envisages
the formation of a transitional government, a military council to oversee rebel
groups and a judiciary to operate in rebel-held areas.
In Damascus, Omran al-Zohbi, Syria's information minister,
called for a national dialogue, and said the army was fighting to boost the
chance for talks.
"The only way to succeed in Syria is to sit down at
the table to launch a national dialogue," he said.
"The opposition must accept the choice of dialogue and
... the army, by facing down terrorism, is protecting this dialogue."
On the ground inside Syria, there was no let-up in violence
on Saturday. Forces loyal to Assad suffered a new blow as two suicide car
bombings struck an officers' club in Deraa, cradle of the nearly 20-month
uprising.
The attacks killed 20 soldiers and possibly many more,
according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the UK-based
watchdog group.
"The two bombings were the result of suicide attacks,
carried out by two men who drove vehicles loaded with explosives into the
garden a few minutes apart," SOHR's Rami Abdel Rahman said.
State news agency SANA reported that three car bombings
killed seven people and wounded many, but did not say they were at a military
position.
It also said a car bomb had wounded nine people in the
southern Damascus neighbourhood of Daf al-Shawk, while state television said a
rocket wounded two girls in the Christian district of George Khoury.
Army's progress
The city of Douma, also near Damascus, was hit by
government fighter jets on Saturday. In one of the air raids, a hospital and
surrounding buildings were destroyed.
It is believed the hospital was empty before the attack.
Elsewhere, the army retook a stretch of the Damascus-Aleppo
highway used to send its reinforcements to main northern battlefields,
according to the SOHR.
In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria
Regime forces had "gradually advanced over the past 10
days to regain control of several villages that fell in October to the
rebels to the west of the Damascus-Aleppo highway", the SOHR said.
But the army had so far failed to enter the strategic
rebel-held town of Maarat al-Numan, where fighting intensified after soldiers
in the besieged nearby military base of Wadi Deif received supplies.
The army on Saturday destroyed a ship carrying armed rebels
on the Euphrates River in the northeast, SANA said, the first time state media
has reported such an incident on the river that runs from Turkey through Syria
and Iraq.
Also near Turkey, Kurds backed by militia took control of
three northeastern towns in two days after urging pro-government forces to
leave, the SOHR said.
It said at least 101 people were killed across Syria on
Saturday - 41 soldiers, 34 civilians and 26 fighters.
It says more than 37,000 people have died since the
uprising erupted in March 2011, first as a protest movement and then as an
armed rebellion after demonstrations were crushed.
Assange’s health could drastically worsen in embassy – lawyer
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could suffer serious health problems if
he stays in London’s Ecuadorian embassy, warned his lawyer. The whistleblower
faces immediate arrest and extradition to Sweden should he leave the building.
“Assange is in good health, but the situation is getting steadily worse,”
lawyer Baltasar Garzon said during an anti-corruption conference in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. The confined conditions in which Assange is currently living
could cause him to “suffer from serious medical problems,” and lead to
“psychological issues,” Garzon said.
Assange has been confined tinside Ecuadorian Embassy since June 19 in
conditions Garzon described as worse than prison. Assange took refuge there to
avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on charges
of sex crimes.
According to Garzon, Assange is not seeking to escape questioning in
Sweden, as they allegedly have evidence proving his innocence. “We want the
trial to go ahead in Sweden, but we want a guarantee of his safety.” Garzon
said the whistleblower risked being re-extradited to US jurisdiction should he
be taken to Sweden.
Previously, Ecuadorian vice foreign minister Marco Albuja said that he was
“very worried” for Assange’s welfare, and that “he had lost a lot of weight.”
The Ecuadorian government has asked the UK for permission to extract
Assange from the embassy in London and transfer him to Ecuador. They also
called for a guarantee of his safety if he has to be admitted to a London
hospital at any time.
The British government has flatly refused to negotiate, maintaining that
they are legally obligated to hand him over to Sweden should he set foot
outside the embassy.
The WikiLeaks founder has now spent over four months in the embassy after
losing his court battle against extradition. He claims the allegations of
sexual abuse against him are politically motivated, and part of a US conspiracy
to arrest him.
Assange drew Washington's fury after publishing thousands of classified
diplomatic cables on the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks in 2010.
The US government has denied claims that there is a secret grand jury case
being prepared to prosecute Assange, but has not ruled out the possibility of
requesting he be extradited from Sweden to the US.
Despite Washington’s denials, there is evidence that the US government has
been monitoring Assange for the last few years. Diplomatic cables released a
month ago showed how US and Australian authorities shared information on the
whistleblower. One of the wires indicated the most successful route to
prosecution “would be to show that Mr. Assange had acted as a co-conspirator –
soliciting, encouraging or assisting [US Army private] Bradley Manning, to
obtain and provide the documents.”
Bradley Manning, 24, faces a potential life sentence if he is convicted of
aiding the enemy after releasing classified military intelligence to WikiLeaks
in 2010. Manning’s lawyer said last week that he may plead guilty to some of
the lesser charges set against him.
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