DOHA,
Qatar - More than 100 countries have recognized a
new Syrian opposition coalition, opening the way
for greater assistance to the forces fighting to
topple President Bashar al-Assad, including
possibly military aid.
Backing for the
Syrian National Coalition, formed in Qatar in
November, was given at an international conference
of the "Friends of the Syrian People" in Morocco
on Wednesday. The opposition had been under
intense international pressure to create a more
organized and representative body to channel any
aid extended by foreign countries.
While
the coalition welcomed the move, the opposition
said they were looking for more tangible political
and financial backing and that they want members
of Assad's government to be brought to the
International Criminal Court.
International recognition of the Libyan
opposition gave it a huge
boost in the battle
against Muammar Gaddafi last year, and was later
backed by Western air strikes. Military
intervention does not appear to be in the cards
for Syria, where the government has the powerful
backing of Russia, China and Iran.
French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the meeting
in Marrakesh had made "extraordinary progress". He
noted that the European Union is now renewing its
weapons embargo on Syria every three months,
rather than annually, to be more flexible as the
situation on the ground changes.
"We want
to have the ability to continue or to change our
attitude on this point," he said. "The fact that
the coalition, which is asking for the right to
defend itself, is now being recognized by a
hundred countries - yesterday the US and first
France - I think this is a very important point."
Chemical warning The
conference's final statement said Assad had lost
all legitimacy but stopped short of calling for
him to step down, something attending ministers
did say individually. The statement also warned
that any use of chemical weapons "would draw a
serious response" from the international
community.
"I believe that of all the
meetings we have had so far for the friends of
Syria, this will turn out to be the most
significant," British Foreign Secretary William
Hague said at the final news conference.
The conference members also announced new
humanitarian assistance for Syrians, including
US$100 million from Saudi Arabia and a fund to be
managed by Germany and the United Arab Emirates
for the reconstruction of the country after Assad
falls.
'Political
solution' Western countries have been
reluctant to send arms to Syria, not least because
of their experience in Libya, where the West
actively backed one side in a civil war in a
country that later became awash with armed groups.
NATO secretary general Anders Fogh
Rasmussen said from Brussels that international
recognition of the Syrian opposition coalition was
a "step in the right direction of a political
solution".
"Clearly, there is no military
solution to the conflict in Syria - we need a
political solution," he told Al Jazeera. "We don't
have any intention to intervene militarily."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
said on Wednesday that recognition of the Syrian
opposition coalition contradicts earlier
international agreements aimed at starting a Syria
dialogue that would include all sides in the
conflict.
Germany's lower house of
parliament will debate whether to send patriot
missiles and 400 soldiers to the Turkish-Syrian
border. Germany is considering arming the border
at Turkey's request to keep the war in Syria from
spilling over.
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