Syria rebels have failed to topple me, brags Assad

 
4 July 2013

Syria's coalition opposition was meeting in Turkey today to elect a new leadership as President Bashar al-Assad bragged that rebels had failed to overthrow his regime.

In an interview published in the state-run Al-Thawra newspaper, Mr Assad claimed the opposition and their Western backers had “exhausted all their tools” in what his government called a conspiracy against Syria.

The Istanbul meeting of the Western-backed but deeply fractured Syrian National Coalition was a second attempt in two months to unify its ranks. Sarah Karkour, a spokeswoman for the SNC, said acting leader George Sabra and senior opposition figures Louay Safi and Mustafa Sabbagh were topping the list of candidates for the new leadership.

The coalition was also trying to prove to allies that it can be trusted with advanced weapons. Western countries have so far been reluctant to send arms even as Mr Assad’s forces have seized the initiative in recent months. Nations have had to balance their desire to aid the rebels with their worry that the fight has become dominated by militant Sunni Islamists, including groups allied to al Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia has assumed a central role in backing the opposition and has begun limited delivery of sophisticated weapons, with the US playing a bigger role in supervising shipments to keep weapons out of Islamist hands, diplomats reported.

In the city of Homs, Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah fighters were encircling the districts of Khaldiyeh and Bab Houd, which have been held by rebels for the past year. Activist Tariq Badrakhan said Syrian forces were “cleaning” the area by firing mortar shells at buildings.

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