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As Opposition Meets in Cairo, More Violence Mars Syria
As Opposition Coalition Meets in Cairo, More Violence Kills Dozens in Syria
(about 5 hours later)
The Syrian opposition pushed ahead on military and political fronts on Wednesday, as rebels shot down a government warplane in the north of Syria and a newly formed coalition started talks in Cairo on how to pick a transitional government to replace that of President Bashar al-Assad.
In its first major effort to show that it can be a viable political force, the newly formed Syrian opposition coalition started talks in Egypt on Wednesday aimed at forming an alternative to the government of President Bashar al-Assad and paving the way for more international acceptance and aid.
The coalition, whose official name is the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, was formed at a meeting in Qatar earlier this month, and has already been anointed with official recognition from Britain, France, Turkey and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. But in order to encourage further recognition internationally, it must tackle the broader problem of uniting multiple groups in exile and rebels on the ground in Syria.
The coalition, whose official name is the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, was formed at a meeting in Qatar this month and has been recognized by Britain, France, Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council. To win further support from foreign capitals, it must tackle the broader problems of uniting the many opposition groups in exile and the rebels on the ground in Syria.
That challenge was apparent on the first day of what are expected to be two days of talks in Egypt. Disagreements emerged over the composition of the coalition when the Syrian National Council, one of its members, tried to increase the number of its representatives.
Delegates were expected to hold their second day of talks in a Cairo hotel on Thursday against the backdrop of a 20-month civil war in which about 40,000 people have been killed in clashes between armed rebels and jihadist fighters on one side and Mr. Assad’s forces on the other. The rebels appear to be gaining in their strategy to challenge the air supremacy of Mr. Assad’s military.
“Nothing will proceed until we work this out,” said one council member at the talks, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
There were reports on Wednesday that for the second successive day, insurgents had shot down a government aircraft. Video posted on the Internet by rebels showed an airplane tail assembly jutting out of debris. Such videos are difficult to verify, but the episode on Wednesday seemed to be confirmed by other witnesses.
The talks took place against the backdrop of a 20-month civil war in which about 40,000 people have been killed so far in clashes between armed rebels and jihadist forces on one side and Mr. Assad’s military on the other. The conflict has flared at various times along Syria’s borders with Lebanon, Israel, Turkey and Jordan and in most of the country’s cities, including deadly car bombings on Wednesday near Damascus, the capital.
“We watched a Syrian plane being shot down as it was flying low to drop bombs” on the town of Daret Azzeh, 20 miles west of Aleppo and close to the Turkish border, said Ugur Cuneydioglu, who said he saw the aircraft being downed from a Turkish border village in southern Hatay Province. “It slowly went down in flames before it hit the ground. It was quite a scene,” Mr. Cuneydioglu said.
In Turkey, once an ally of the Assad government, a team of NATO inspectors visited sites on Wednesday where the alliance might install batteries of Patriot antiaircraft missiles that Turkey, a member, has requested to prevent any incursions by the Syrian air force, which has become the Assad government’s main weapon against the rebels. Patriot missiles have also been discussed as a way of enforcing a no-fly zone over rebel-held areas of Syria near the Turkish border if one is imposed.
The video said the plane had been brought down by “the free men of Daret Azzeh soldiers of God brigade.”
Meanwhile, opposition politicians gathered in a Cairo hotel to shape an alternative government. Ahmad Ramadan, a member of the national council, said in an interview with Radio Sawa, an Arabic-language broadcaster sponsored by the United States government, that the talks were more likely to decide on the selection process than to choose actual candidates.
On Tuesday, Syrian rebels said they shot down a military helicopter with a surface-to-air missile outside Aleppo.
Khaled Khoja, a coalition member attending the talks, said: “I don’t think we’ll be discussing the election of a transitional government during the meeting today. We’re still discussing whether to have a government or to have committees instead.”
The violence on Wednesday also included car bombs in a Damascus suburb that killed dozens of people.
State media said on Wednesday that at least 34 people, and possibly many more, died in the two car bombings in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus that is populated by minorities.
In their first meeting since their umbrella organization was created in Doha, Qatar, on Nov. 11, coalition delegates confronted the realities of the political terrain. Disagreements emerged over the coalition’s composition when one member, the Syrian National Council, tried to increase the number of its representatives.
The official SANA news agency said the explosions struck at about 7 a.m. and were the work of “terrorists,” the word used by the authorities to denote rebel forces seeking the overthrow of President Assad.
“Nothing will proceed until we work this out,” said one council member who spoke on condition of anonymity, according to Reuters.
The agency said the bombings were in the main square of Jaramana, which news reports said is largely populated by members of the Christian and Druse minorities. Residents said the neighborhood was home to many families who have fled other parts of Syria because of the conflict and to some Palestinian families. The blasts caused “huge material damage to the residential buildings and shops,” SANA said.
The focus also seemed to be more on deciding how leadership candidates should be chosen rather than on who they might be. “I don’t think we’ll be discussing the election of a transitional government during the meeting today,” said Khaled Khoja, a coalition member. “We’re still discussing whether to have a government or to have committees instead.”
The death toll was not immediately confirmed. An activist group, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, initially said that 29 people had died but revised the figure later to 47, of whom 38 had been identified. Of the 120 injured, the rebel group said, 23 people were in serious condition, meaning that the tally could climb higher.
While the group, and the talks, are in their infancy, members appeared to recognize that world supporters were watching for results. Mr. Khoja said that while the group was discussing the coalition’s structure, it wanted to “see the outcome of the meeting in Morocco before deciding on the government.”
There were also reports from witnesses in Turkey and antigovernment activists in Syria that for the second successive day insurgents had shot down a government aircraft in the north of the country, offering further evidence that the rebels are seeking a major shift by challenging the government’s dominance of the skies. It was not immediately clear how the aircraft, apparently a plane, had been brought down.
He was referring to a meeting planned for next month in Morocco of the so-called Friends of Syria group of nations, which includes the United States. At a meeting in New York City in September that included foreign ministers and Syrian opposition leaders, the group offered modest pledges of support for opponents of the Assad government. The opposition had unified under international pressure to give provinces better representation, and ideally, to oversee the disparate rebel factions while also providing a counterweight to the well-armed jihadist groups in the country.
Video posted on the Internet by rebels showed wreckage with fires still burning around it. The aircraft appeared to show a tail assembly clearly visible jutting out of the debris. Such videos are difficult to verify, particularly in light of the restrictions facing reporters in Syria. However, the episode on Wednesday seemed to be confirmed by other witnesses.
The conflict has also flared along Syria’s borders with Lebanon, Israel, Turkey and Jordan.
“We watched a Syrian plane being shot down as it was flying low to drop bombs,” said Ugur Cuneydioglu, who said he observed the incident from a Turkish border village in southern Hatay Province. “It slowly went down in flames before it hit the ground. It was quite a scene,” Mr. Cuneydioglu said.
In Turkey, which was once an ally of the Assad government, a team of NATO inspectors visited sites on Wednesday where the alliance might install batteries of Patriot antiaircraft missiles.
Video posted by insurgents on the Internet showed a man in aviator coveralls being carried away. It was not clear if the man was alive but the video said he had been treated in a makeshift hospital. A voice off-camera says, “This is the pilot who was shelling residents’ houses.”
Another video on Wednesday showed a rebel fighter holding what appeared to be a complete SA-16 heat-seeking, shoulder-fired missile.
The aircraft was said to have been brought down while it was attacking the town of Daret Azzeh, 20 miles west of Aleppo and close to the Turkish border. The town was the scene of a mass killing last June, when the government and the rebels blamed each other for the deaths and mutilation of 25 people. The video posted online said the plane had been brought down by “the free men of Daret Azzeh soldiers of God brigade.”
The man claimed to have shot down both the airplane and the helicopter, and said the missiles had been captured by rebels when they overran Base 46 outside Aleppo earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Syrian rebels said they shot down a military helicopter with a surface-to-air missile outside Aleppo and they uploaded video that appeared to confirm that rebels have put their growing stock of heat-seeking missiles to effective use.
High-profile tactical successes in the war have often been followed by videotaped claims of responsibility, and in part are seen as fund-raising opportunities for the fighters. Many claims, including those by the rebel fighters, are impossible to verify immediately.
In recent months, rebels have used mainly machine guns to shoot down several Syrian Air Force helicopters and fixed-wing attack jets. In Tuesday’s case, the thick smoke trailing the projectile, combined with the elevation of the aircraft, strongly suggested that the helicopter was hit by a missile.
But it was significant. The SA-16 is more modern and capable than the more commonly seen SA-7. It flies at a faster speed, can be used against aircraft at much wider range of attack angles, has a longer range and is promoted by its Russian exporters as being more resistant to an aircraft’s efforts to thwart it.
Rebels hailed the event as the culmination of their long pursuit of effective antiaircraft weapons, though it was not clear if the downing on Tuesday was an isolated tactical success or heralded a new phase in the war that would present a meaningful challenge to the Syrian government’s air supremacy.
Its presence suggested that the rebels have been acquiring more weapons and could be mounting a more meaningful challenge to the Syrian Air Force.
Hala
Droubi reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris; Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting from Istanbul, and Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Lebanon.
State news media said on Wednesday that two car bombings struck Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus that is populated by members of the Christian and Druse minorities.
The SANA news agency said the death toll was at least 34. An activist group based in Britain, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said 47 people were killed.
Christine Hauser reported from New York, and Hala Droubi from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Reporting was contributed by Alan Cowell from London; Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul; Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Lebanon; and C. J. Chivers from the United States.
