Syrian Opposition Coalition Forms Interim Government and Elects Provisional Premier

A rival administration has been established in Syria after a meeting of the Syrian opposition coalition held at Istanbul, Turkey. Regions that are now under rebel control (Aleppo and Raqqa) are assigned a provisional premier – Ghassan Hitto, an IT manager who had been educated in the United States.

Syrian opposition coalition, finally a united opposition

The civil war had taken its toll on the battle-torn areas. Rebels had seized certain areas from government forces and the residents are now suffering from lack of food, water and electricity, and medical services as well. The move to form an interim government was pushed by the Syrian opposition, the Syrian National Coalition. It is the hope of the coalition to unite the rebels that are fighting the men of President Assad and to reach out to the people affected by the ongoing fighting.

The existence of factions within the opposition has caused in the failure of previous efforts to this end. However, on Monday, a unified decision was finally reached. The occupied areas are run by community councils that are unable to agree with each other.

New leaders

Upon winning the vote (35 out of 48 ballots cast), Ghassan Hitto declared that he would outline his plans for the occupied areas in a speech that he will give on Tuesday. Hitto recently transferred to Turkey after living in Texas for many years. It must be note that the coalition has a total of 63 voting members, but 15 abstained.

But the question is whether or not the interim government will be recognized as an authority by the rebels who are on the ground. And it remains to be seen if the rebels who have organized the local communities and are running things would surrender their authority to someone who has been living abroad and has only recently returned to the country.

International pressure and opinion

The Gulf Cooperation Council, a collective of Gulf nations have been informed of the attempt at forming an interim government. A representative of the Syrian National Coalition expressed their apprehensions on how the government would be received by the rebels since there is a lack of international support backing the coalition. One of the issues that the interim government has to face is how to facilitate avenues for cooperation and the required funding for such activities.

The United States leads other world powers in the view that the civil war would only be resolved by negotiations with Assad and his government. The interim government has now made this option a remote possibility. The opposition coalition has always rejected the option of negotiating with Assad.

The United Nations and the Arab League have put forward a peace plan which proposes a transitional government. This plan is a solution that takes into consideration both the demands of the Assad regime and the opposition. But this view is not universal in the international community. Just last week, Britain and France were proposing to the EU to lift the embargo on weapons in order to send more arms to the rebels. The EU did not grant this petition.

There is no comment from the Assad government on this recent development.