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Syrian President Warns Against Foreign Intervention in Syria Syrian President Warns Against Foreign Intervention in Syria
(about 2 hours later)
DOHA, Qatar — The quarrelsome Syrian opposition was locked in extended bartering on Thursday over the creation of a more diverse yet unified umbrella organization that its foreign backers hope will become a credible alternative to the Damascus government. DOHA, Qatar — The quarrelsome Syrian opposition was locked in extended bartering here in Doha on Thursday over the creation of a more diverse yet unified umbrella organization that its foreign backers hope will become a credible alternative to the Damascus government.
The basic goal is to create an executive body — with members within Syria and abroad — that can channel aid to nascent local governments in opposition controlled areas, bolstering their hold over territory wrested from the Syrian government. The goal was to create an executive body, including members within Syria and abroad, that could channel aid to nascent local governments in opposition-controlled areas, bolstering their hold over territory wrested from the Syrian government.
If it works, supporters say, the plan would help to both push back against the chaos in which jihadi organizations thrive, and to convince foreign governments — particularly a second Obama administration — to get invested more directly in the opposition’s success. If the plan works, supporters say, it will help push back against the chaos in which jihadi organizations thrive and persuade foreign governments — particularly a second Obama administration — to get invested more directly in the opposition’s success.
“We have to find a way out of the cul-de-sac that we are in,” said Ayman Abdel Nour, a former confident of President Bashar al-Assad turned opposition activist. “We need to find a solution so that the Syrian opposition can deal with the international community through one executive body, rather than everyone with his own opinion, his own agenda and his own allies.” “We have to find a way out of the cul-de-sac that we are in,” said Ayman Abdel Nour, a former confidant of President Bashar al-Assad’s turned opposition activist. “We need to find a solution so that the Syrian opposition can deal with the international community through one executive body, rather than everyone with his own opinion, his own agenda and his own allies.”
The meeting in Doha was the latest effort to build an effective and united opposition leadership after many failed attempts since the uprising began nearly 20 months ago. It was supported by the United States and Qatar, which have called for President Assad to step down — and have even offered some material support to the rebels. Without a unified opposition various foreign supporters — Qataris, Saudis, Turks, French, Americans — have each aided different groups allowing the opposition to survive but without the critical mass it might need to succeed in taking out the government. The meeting in Doha represented a shift in tactics after expectations were not met that the Syrian National Council would become a sort of government in exile. The change was pushed by the United States and Qatar, which have called for Mr. Assad to step down and pledged material support for the rebels. Without a unified opposition, various foreign supporters — Qataris, Saudis, Turks, French, Americans — have fostered different groups, allowing them to survive but without the critical mass needed to create an effective counterweight to the Syrian government.
If the opposition needed a reminder of the stakes, President Assad provided one with a rare interview, telling the Russia Today satellite channel that he was not leaving the country. If the opposition needed a reminder of the stakes, Mr. Assad provided one in a rare interview on Thursday, telling the satellite channel Russia Today that he was not leaving the country.
“I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country,” he said in excerpts published Thursday on the channel’s Web site. “I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.” “I am not a puppet,” he said in excerpts published on the channel’s Web site. “I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country. I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria.”
Asked about possible armed intervention, Mr. Assad said he did not expect the West to invade, “but if they do so, nobody can tell what is next,” Mr. Assad said. Asked about possible armed intervention, Mr. Assad said he did not expect the West to invade, “but if they do so, nobody can tell what is next.”
The price of an invasion “if it happened is going to be more than the whole world can afford,” he added in the brief excerpt. The station said the full interview will be broadcast Friday. The price of an invasion “if it happened is going to be more than the whole world can afford,” he said in an excerpt. The station said the full interview would be broadcast Friday.
Foreign governments who back the Syrian opposition had hoped that the Syrian National Council would become a government-in-exile when it was created more than a year ago. But the American secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, pronounced it a failure late last month. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pronounced the Syrian National Council a failure last month. She said the United States and its partners would help the opposition unite “behind a shared, effective strategy that can resist the regime’s violence and begin to provide for a political transition that can demonstrate, more clearly than has been possible up until now, what the future holds for the Syrian people once the Assad regime is gone.”
She said the United States and its partners would help the opposition unite “behind a shared, effective strategy that can resist the regime’s violence and begin to provide for a political transition that can demonstrate, more clearly than has beenpossible up until now, what the future holds for the Syrian people once theAssad regime is gone.” Members of the Syrian National Council fought back like a fish on a hook, maneuvering to avoid what members feared would be marginalization. Members gathered in Doha this week to introduce changes — including doubling the group’s membership to more than 400, with about 33 percent of members from inside Syria, up from 15 percent. But some attempts to prove its diversity backfired; for example, not a single woman won in the elections for a 40-member secretariat.
Members of the Syrian National Council fought back like a fish on a hook — maneuvering to avoid what members fear will be marginalization. Members gathered in Doha all week to introduce reforms — doubling the overall membership to more than 400, including some 33 percent from inside Syria, up from 15 percent. The main criticism of the council, founded last fall, is that it has failed to attract the support needed to shift the balance of power away from Mr. Assad, instead spending months jockeying over internal positions. The council lacks significant support from Mr. Assad’s minority Alawite sect, as well as other minorities, tribal elders, religious figures and business groups.
But some attempts to prove its diversity backfired — not a single woman won in the elections for a 40-member secretariat, for example, and few members from inside made it either because they lacked support from a political bloc. “We will not have a vehicle for the future of Syria without those,” said Salman Shaikh, the director of the Brookings Doha Center, which helped lead the process of reshaping the opposition. “They don’t trust it.”
But the main criticism of the S.N.C. is that it has failed to attract the kind of support needed to shift the balance of power away from Mr. Assad, instead spending months jockeying over internal positions. The S.N.C. lacks significant support from the minority Alawite sect of President Assad, other minorities, tribal elders, important religious figures and from the business community. Syrian National Council members argue that they never got the financial or military support needed to attract a wider membership. But the group’s foreign backers calculated that with no end in sight to the fighting that has claimed nearly 40,000 people, by opposition estimates, it was time for a new approach. The longer-term goal is to convince Moscow of a credible alternative to Mr. Assad.
Hala Droubi contributed reporting from Doha, Qatar; Hania Mourtada and Hwaida Saad contributed reported from Beirut, Lebanon; Alan Cowell contributed from London and Rick Gladstone from New York. Participants here, meanwhile, made no secret of the fact that they want to get Washington more involved. The Obama administration, extracting itself from long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been adamant that it would not do more than provide nonlethal aid to the Syrians. David Cameron, the British prime minister, said this week that he would work with the administration to make the opposition more effective.
“We are all waiting for Mr. Obama,” Mr. Shaikh said.
While the opposition has reached a certain consensus about the need for more unity, they have been bickering about how to achieve it for months. Prodded on Thursday by various officials, including Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister of Turkey, and Nabil Elaraby, the secretary general of the Arab League, about 60 representatives of various factions started talks that were scheduled to last just a day but were extended by at least another day.
Participants said much of Thursday was spent on flowery speeches about nationalism rather than addressing unity. But after a marathon session that went past midnight, they said they had made progress, spurred not least by the fact that their Qatari hosts told them they must stay in Doha until they reached an agreement.
Mazem Arja, the head of the Revolutionary Council in Idlib, in northern Syria, said that haphazard financing coming from abroad was demoralizing, especially because it was distributed on a political basis rather than for important needs like ambulances. He also noted that the Syrian National Council had appointed a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in his 60s as the youth envoy for Idlib.
“The guy had not been there for 32 years,” he said. “If you dropped him at the edge of town, I doubt he could find his old house.”
Hala Droubi contributed reporting.