Dubai: France announced on Tuesday that it was recognising the newly formed Syrian rebel coalition and would consider arming the group.
The announcement by President Francois Hollande made France the first Western country to fully embrace the new coalition, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, which came together this past weekend under Western pressure after days of negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
The US also recognised the leadership body announced in Qatar on Sunday as a “legitimate representative” of the Syrian people, but stopped short of describing it as a sole representative, saying the group must first demonstrate its ability to represent Syrians inside the country.
So far, only France and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have recognised the new opposition body as a representative of the Syrian people. The Arab League has recognised it as the sole representative of the Syrian opposition.
Under intense international pressure to form an opposition that includes representatives from the country’s disparate factions fighting to topple President Bashar Al Assad, the anti-government groups struck a deal on Sunday in Doha to form a coalition headed by former Muslim preacher Muath Al Khatib.
Representatives
The coalition includes representatives from the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), which was harshly criticised by many, including US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, for being cut off from rebels fighting the war on the ground and for failing to forge a cohesive and more representative leadership.
“I announce that France recognises the Syrian National Coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people and thus as the future provisional government of a democratic Syria and to bring an end to Bashar Al Assad’s regime,” said Hollande, who has been one of the Syrian president’s harshest critics.
As for weapons, Hollande said, France had not supported arming the rebels up to now, but “with the coalition, as soon as it is a legitimate government of Syria, this question will be looked at by France, but also by all countries that recognise this government.”
US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner, however, said the US policy of providing only non-lethal support and humanitarian aid to the Syrian rebels remained unchanged.
The new group is lobbying the international community for more powerful weapons to break the stalemate with the regime. The US and French recognition is a welcome boost but the opposition still has a long way to go to convince the international community the weapons will not fall in the wrong hands.
Recognition for Libya
France was the first country to recognise Libya’s opposition early in the Libyan uprising last year, prompting other countries to follow and accelerating the international effort to oust Muammar Gaddafi. France’s military helped lead the air campaign against Gaddafi’s forces.
France, which has played a leading role in efforts to force Al Assad from power, was also the first to recognise the Syrian National Council. Hollande made no mention of that grouping on Tuesday.
France has acknowledged providing communications and other non-lethal equipment to Syrian rebels. It has been a leader in pressing for a tough UN Security Council resolution on Syria, but it has been blocked by Russia and China.
The French position appeared to break with the European position.
British Foreign Minister William Hague, speaking at the Arab League in Cairo on Tuesday, said the opposition coalition must gain support from within Syria.
“That is a very crucial consideration, and if they do these things well, then yes we would then be able to recognise them as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people,” he said.
A joint statement by the Arab League and the European Union said the two sides welcome the agreement reached in Doha by the Syrian opposition which is seen as an “important step” in forming a widely representative opposition group.