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Arab League Divided over Support of Newly-Born unjustified Syrian Coalition

The Arab League fell short of unanimous support for the new Syrian opposition coalition. The body still lacks full recognition, some Arab nations reluctant to back the insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad, whom they still view as a legitimate ruler.

Arab foreign ministers showed the support of the nascent National Coalition of the Syrian Powers of Revolution and Opposition (NCSPRO) at a meeting in Cairo on Monday evening.

In an ambiguous statement the League called on the rest of the opposition “to join this national coalition so that it brings together all segments of the Syrian people,” but did not recognize it as Syria’s official representative. However, it did say the organization is now the “main interlocutor” with the Arab League.

Some of the League’s members, namely Iraq and Algeria had reservations about the new organization.

“Iraq’s reservation was not clear but Algeria … asked for more time before the Arab League can start dialogue with the opposition coalition. Algeria also had a reservation on the fact that this coalition did not represent all the opposition factions,” said an anonymous Arab League official to the press.

The states include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. The so-called ‘National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces’ emerged this Sunday after a Doha, Qatar, meeting of Syrian opposition groups.

The group has pledged to set up a transitional government in Syria once it has sufficient international backing.

The deal is the result of a relentless pressure from the US and its European and Arab allies, who want to see the current Syrian regime toppled.

On the other hand, France was the first of the European countries to fully recognize the Syrian opposition coalition as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Syrian people. Meanwhile the US called it “a legitimate representative” but is yet to fully recognize it.

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