BEIRUT: The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group elected a former political prisoner yesterday as its new president, filling a post that has been vacant for months due to divisions among President Bashar Assad’s opponents.
Inside Syria, government troops advanced into rebel-held areas of the central city of Homs, pushing into a heavily contested neighborhood after pummeling it with artillery that drove out opposition fighters, an activist said Saturday.
The Syrian National Coalition said in a statement that Ahmad al-Jarba received 55 votes from the 114-member council in the poll that took place in the Turkish city of Istanbul, where many Syrian opposition figures are based.
Al-Jarba is from the northeastern province of Hassakeh, and is a member of the powerful Shammar tribe that extends into Iraq. He and other SNC members could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday.
The opposition coalition also elected three vice presidents including Mohammed Farouk Taifour, a senior official with Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood. The other two vice presidents are Salem al-Mislit and prominent opposition figure Suhair Atassi. Badr Jamous was voted in as the SNC’s secretary general.
Syrian troops have advanced into rebel-held areas of the city of Homs, pushing into a heavily contested neighborhood after pummeling it with artillery that drove out opposition fighters, an activist said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Tariq Badrakhan, an activist based in the neighborhood, said government troops used rockets, mortars and cannon fire to flush out the area's "first line of defenses" on Friday evening. The offensive continued yesterday morning, he said via Skype, as explosions were heard in the background.
Another activist said eight rebels were killed in the fighting. He requested anonymity because rebels have accused him in the past of damaging their morale by reporting their casualties. He could not confirm that government forces had entered Khaldiyeh but said it was consistent with fighting.
he was following there. State-run media said government forces had seized buildings in the nearby Bab Houd area.
The Syrian conflict, which began with months of peaceful protests against the Assad regime two years ago, deteriorated into an all-out civil war after a violent government crackdown.
Government forces, sometimes backed by fighters of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, have launched a major countrywide offensive to reclaim territory lost to rebels, who operate in chaotic groups with ideologies ranging from secular to hardline Islamic extremists.
On Saturday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported some 60 fighters and 40 civilians were killed across the country the day before. The Observatory, which counts on a network of activists on the ground, did not have updated figures for yesterday.
Fighting continued in the northern city of Aleppo, a crucial stronghold for the rebels, which are dependent on nearby towns and villages on the Turkish border as a supply route.
There were also clashes in the Damascus suburb of Qaboun, as the regime tried to push opposition forces further away from the capital, the British-based Observatory reported.
State-run television said government forces seized control of the area, adding that the move had cut off rebel weapons supplies and movement between the neighborhoods of Jobar, Qaboun, Zamalka and Harasta.
Homs is located between Damascus and the Syrian coast, a stronghold for the Assad regime, makes it a strategic prize.
Most of the city of about one million is under government control, and the fighting is concentrated in areas where the rebels are dug in. Some 2,500 to 4,000 civilians are still in those areas, UN officials estimate. The remaining inhabitants are either rebels or their activist supporters.
Activist Badrakhan said fighters in the Khaldiyeh district had held out until Friday evening, when they were hit with explosions that killed some and caused others to flee.
He provided The Associated Press with three videos showing a series of fighters lying on flimsy mattresses in what was described as a makeshift clinic in Khaldiyeh. The faces and hands of four men appeared blackened with burns.
Clashes and shelling continued Saturday in neighborhoods around Homs' Old City, said another Homs-based activist who gave his name only as Nedal for fear of government reprisals.
Online video posted from the area showed thunderous artillery explosions and plumes of grey smoke. One building crackled with flames; others appeared battered and smashed.
"Oh God, save Homs," pleads a man in the background. The video, posted on Saturday, appeared consistent with AP's reporting from the area.
Nedal said shelling had intensified since Friday morning and Syrian military intelligence forces were arresting people suspected of being loyal to the rebels.
"They are taken and it's a death sentence," he said. "They disappear."
