Friends of Syria recognises the legitimacy of SNC

The “Friends of Syria” committee in istanbul Istanbul / Damascus – Jalal Fawaz / Agencies The “Friends of Syria” on Sunday recognised the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) as a legitimate representative of all Syrians, with no mention of supporting or arming the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), as advocated by some Gulf Arab states, but said it would “continue to work on additional appropriate measures with a view to the protection of the Syrian people.”
In a final statement, the 70-plus-nation group said President Bashar al-Assad did not have an open-ended opportunity to meet his commitments to UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Among the 27 resolutions contained in the Friends of Syria declaration are clauses stating that the member nations will provide financial support for opposition activities. Member nations in the gulf have already pledged tens of millions of dollars in support, to assist the opposition in paying salaries for soldiers and officers that defected from the Syrian Army FSA, as well as to create a stable economic foundation for continuing opposition efforts.
However the nations that attended the conference stopped short of supplying the opposition with arms, with a general declaration claiming that every member nation should do everything in its power to support the political activities of the opposition and to help bring about a regime change in Syria.
“The regime will be judged by its deeds rather than its promises,” the statement said. Security Council members China and Russia and Syria’s ally Iran were among countries that stayed away from the conference in Istanbul.
Assad has accepted, but not yet implemented, Annan’s six-point peace plan, which calls for the military to ceasefire, withdraw from towns and cities, and allow humanitarian access.
“We will not let the Syrian regime misuse another opportunity, which is the last chance for the situation in Syria,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference after the meeting he hosted.
Gulf States have pledged to provide $100 million dollars to pay for the salaries of opposition fighters for three months, According to a New York Times report, citing Molham al-Drobi, a member of the Syrian National Council.
Drobi told the Times about $500,000 was already sent to fighters inside Syria last week through \"a mechanism that I cannot disclose now.”
The money is meant to encourage those who are still fighting for President Assad to defect and join the opposition.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the conference her government was supplying “communications equipment that will help activists organise, evade attacks by the regime and connect to the outside world” and was “discussing with our international partners how best to expand this support.”
Clinton berated al-Assad for not acting on Annan’s peace plan. “Nearly a week has gone by, and we have to conclude that the regime is adding to its long list of broken promises,” she said.
“There is no more time for excuses or delays ... This is a moment of truth,” Clinton told a news conference later.
Western powers have been wary of military intervention in Syria, but the Turkish Foreign Minister sounded an alarm bell, comparing the situation there to the plight of Bosnia in the 1990s.
“In the case of Bosnia, the international community was too slow ... therefore we lost many people,” he said. “In the case of Syria ... we have to act without delay.”
The council also called for putting a halt to all support for the Syrian government, with an emphasis on weapons and ammunitions. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed that Turkey stopped an Iranian shipment carrying Turkish chemicals to Syria.
Edrogan declared that he will not join in any plans to continue supporting Bashar al-Assad, though he did not offer any plan of action to displace the Syrian leader.
The nations attending the conference also decided to create a fund for the rehabilitation of Syria, to act if and when a regime-change in Syria was to take place. Germany and the United Arab Emirates will lead theses efforts.
However, the declaration by the Friends of Syria did not include any calls for al-Assad to step down, nor any kind of timeframe for future activity. The declaration includes hints of further sanctions that could be placed on Syria, if it does not quickly adopt UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s six-point plan, the focus of which is a proposed two-hour daily ceasefire to allow for civilians to receive basic goods and aid. However, the Syrian government has already stated that it will not be the first one to lay down arms, and does not seem to be bothered by the criticism by the Friends of Syria group.
Western and Arab sanctions on Syria have failed so far to soften the government’s crackdown on its opponents.
Ahead of the gathering, al-Assad’s regime declared victory over rebels and again voiced support for Annan’s plan, but kept up its shelling of rebel positions and said it had no plans to immediately withdraw troops.
At least 73 people were killed Sunday, among them 15 members of the security forces who died in firefights across the country, the Sham News Network reported.
Shells slammed into the central Syrian city of Homs Sunday, killing more than two dozen people, activists said.
Activists said heavy machine gun fire and artillery pounded the districts of Khaldiyeh, Bayada and Safsafa in the battered city, despite world demands on the Syrian regime to end violence that has killed thousands of people in the past year.
Activists said violence continued inside the country Sunday and criticised the Istanbul meeting as a waste of time.
\"The conference has to arm the opposition, the Free Army. That is the best thing they can do because we\'re tired of promises and initiatives. We\'re tired of it,\" said activist Hadi al-Yousef in the southern town of Dael, which has come under fierce attack in the past days.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 36 people were killed in military operations across the country Sunday, most of them civilians. They included four government soldiers killed in an attack on their convoy in the northern Idlib province.
The Local Coordination Committees put the number of deaths at 50, saying 18 died in Homs province.
Clashes were also reported in suburbs of Damascus, in the central region of Hama and in Daraa in the country\'s south.
The Syrian government blasted Friends of Syria meeting, calling it the \"Enemies of Syria\" gathering.
Damascus has consistently dismissed the country\'s yearlong uprising as a foreign-engineered plot.
Syria\'s uprising began in March 2011 with peaceful protests calling for political reforms. Dissent spread as Assad\'s forces deployed tanks, snipers and thugs to try to quash it, and many in the opposition have taken up arms to defend themselves and attack government troops.
The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed.