Seat of the Syrian delegation remains empty during a preparatory meeting of Arab foreign ministers Syria's main opposition group took the country's seat at the Arab League for the first time on Tuesday as the 22-member bloc opened a summit in the Qatari capital Doha. The rebel flag replaced the official Syrian one as Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, who has resigned as the head of the National Coalition but said he would address the summit, took his seat at the gathering.
The Arab League suspended Damascus' membership in November 2011 over the refusal of President Bashar al-Assad's regime to halt its bloody crackdown on democracy protests.
Several leaders are absent from the conference for health reasons, including King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, a strong backer of the two-year-old Syrian rebellion, and Iraq's President Jalal Talabani.
The Qatari hosts, the most vocal supporters of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, have won the promotion of Syria's opposition National Coalition to fill the country's spot.
The decision to hand the seat to the opposition has not been without its detractors, with reservations expressed by Iraq, Algeria and Lebanon.
A high-ranking League official in the Qatari capital told AFP that the National Council "has been invited to the Arab summit and will occupy Syria's seat" at the 22-member Arab League.
Damascus reacted furiously to the announcement.
"The League has handed Syria's stolen seat to bandits and thugs," Syrian official daily Al-Thawra said.
"They have forgotten that it is the people who grant the powers and not the emirs of obscurantism and sand," it said, a clear reference to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
A state television station said: "Qatar wants to bypass the rules of the Arab League by giving the seat of a founding member of the League to a coalition that obeys only the money and fuel of the Gulf and submits to American dictates."
Confusing the situation, National Coalition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib on Sunday announced his resignation, throwing the fragmented opposition into disarray and denting its credibility.
Despite resigning, Khatib said he would address the summit "in the name of the Syrian people."
The Coalition's envoy to Doha, Nizar al-Haraki, told AFP that Khatib would in fact head the delegation representing Syria, which will include the country's first rebel prime minister, Ghassan Hitto.
"I have decided to make a speech in the name of the Syrian people at the Doha summit," Khatib announced in a statement on his Facebook page, saying he took his decision after prayers and consulting friends.
"This is not linked to the resignation which will be later discussed," he added.
The coalition has said it has refused to accept Khatib's resignation.
The Arab League on March 6 called on the coalition "to form an executive body to take up Syria's seat" and attend the summit.
An opposition source told AFP that Khatib had accused "certain countries, notably Qatar, of wanting to control the opposition" and of having imposed Hitto as premier.
Khatib was accusing Qatar of having imposed the election of Hitto against Saudi-backed candidate Imad Mustafa, another opposition source said.
During the summit, Syria's opposition chief demanded in a fiery address after taking over his country's seat at an Arab League summit on Tuesday that he be allowed to represent Syria at the United Nations.
Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, head of the Syrian National Coalition opposition grouping, also insisted that Syria's future should not be determined by foreign powers.
"We demand...the seat of Syria at the United Nations and at other international organisations," Khatib said, addressing Arab leaders at the Doha summit.
Syrian people alone should determine who rules the country, said Khatib, who on Sunday resigned his post although his resignation has yet to be accepted by the Coalition.
"They ask who will rule Syria. The people of Syria will decide, not any other state in this world," Khatib said, possibly alluding to accusations by Damascus that the rebels are implementing Qatari and Saudi agendas.
Apart from the Syrian crisis, Arab leaders are expected to discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process based on a 2002 initiative offering normal relations with the Jewish state in return for its pullout from occupied land