New Syrian Rebel Group Created to Unite Various Factions
Published at
Alessio Romenzi/AFP/Getty Images(ISTANBUL) — Opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government are hoping a new coalition will provide the cohesion they’ve lacked up to now to overturn his regime.
In an announcement made Monday at a conference in Istanbul, the activists behind the Syrian Rebels Front are seeking to band together with other facets of the Syrian opposition in its 15-month effort to bring democratic reform to Syria.
Organizer Khaled al-Okla said the plan now is to unite with the more well-known Free Syrian Army, which still maintains little control over the hodgepodge of rebel units battling al-Assad’s forces.
Al-Okla proclaimed his group was formed as the result of the Syrian government’s “scorched earth policy,” which vows to leave no rebel group standing.
Perhaps more telling, the Syrian Rebels Front will operate under the assumption that the six-point ceasefire plan crafted by United Nations special emissary Kofi Annan is no longer viable, given its failure to stem the fighting.
Since March 2011, an estimated 13,000 people have been killed in the low-level civil war that the international community worries is on the verge of turning into a regional conflict.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio