Regional rivalries dividing Syria’s opposition

DIVISIONS in the ranks of Syria’s opposition are being driven by regional rivalries, experts say.
Competition over money and weapons is adding to the growing tension, they say.
Syrian opposition chief Ahmad Moaz Al-Khatib, speaking at an Arab League summit in Doha on Tuesday, lashed out at regional attempts to steer the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime.
“Our people are paying for their freedom with blood,” said Al-Khatib, head of the opposition Syria National Coalition.
“The people of Syria will decide (their future), not any other state in this world,” he added, as the opposition for the first time took up Syria’s vacant seat in the Arab League.
His comments came on the same as some 70 prominent Syrian dissidents criticized the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Coalition and accused regional governments of “hegemony” over the body.
Without explicitly mentioning the Brotherhood, the dissidents criticized “the conflicts between coalition leaders, the dictatorial control exercised by one of its currents over its decisions and actions, and the flagrant hegemony of diverse Arab and regional players.”
At a meeting of the coalition in Istanbul meeting last week, arguments raged between opposition forces who believe it is necessary to set up an interim government in anticipation of Assad’s fall, and those who back the idea of creating an executive body with limited powers. When Ghassan Hitto was chosen as Syria’s first opposition premier, several dissidents slammed him as “Qatar’s candidate,” and a dozen Coalition members suspended their membership in the group.
“Differences over Hitto were not necessarily personal or over the fact that he is unknown both in Syria and abroad,” said Ziad Majed, Paris-based professor of political science.
“One group believed it would be better to take the creation of a government slowly, while the other regional group pushed for a speedy process and for Hitto’s election.” The role played by Arab countries and Syria’s neighbor Turkey, which dreams of becoming a regional superpower, also impacts military developments on the ground. Opposition fighters battling Assad’s troops in Daraya near Damascus said that at the start of this year they were about to lose control of their town as the army pressed a blistering offensive.
“Just then, Al-Khatib proposed engaging in talks with regime officials (to negotiate an end to the conflict), and arms started pouring in,” a fighter said.
“That means weapons are ready at the border. As Qatar and Turkey disapproved of Al-Khatib’s initiative, they allowed weapons to pour in, provoking an escalation on the ground and delegitimizing Al-Khatib’s initiative,” he added.
An Arab expert on Syria said weapons shipped by Qatar are mostly being transported via Turkey into the hands of armed groups. The media has also played a significant role in the undeclared regional war, mainly through satellite channel like Al-Jazeera, which is based in Qatar.
“This conflict shows no signs of dying out after Assad’s fall. Who will rule Syria? Will it be the Muslim Brotherhood, as in Egypt and Tunisia? Will it be someone else? Who will influence Syria’s foreign policy? Who will win the biggest reconstruction contracts?” asked Majed.