EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton gave her backing to a new agreement of Syrian opposition parties Tuesday, a day after the broad-based coalition also drew support from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
The newly-formed alliance, the National Coalition of the Syrian Powers of Revolution and Opposition, was finalised in Doha Sunday, at a meeting of opponents of authoritarian Syrian leader Bashar al Assad’s regime. The GCC swiftly heralded the coalition as “the legitimate representative of the brotherly Syrian people”, according to a statement by its secretary general Abdulatif al-Zayani.
Ashton quickly followed up messages of support from across the regional and international community with one of her own, paying tribute to the decision to heed continued calls from the EU “to form an inclusive and representative common platform”, which could in turn instigate a political transition to bring a representative administration to the country “that would meet the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people”.
The US was similarly buoyant in response to the news, with State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark C. Toner issuing a statement saying President Barack Obama’s newly re-elected administration looked “forward to supporting the National Coalition as it charts a course to the end of Assad’s bloody rule and the start of peaceful, just, democratic future that all the people of Syria deserve”.
Echoing Ashton’s commendation of the role of Qatar and the Arab League on facilitating and championing dialogue between disparate opposition groups, committing its “humanitarian and non-lethal assistance (to) serve the needs of the Syrian people”.
Ashton’s statement came as a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Arab League and the EU was set to convene in Cairo to discuss how best to support the new opposition group, which declared it would move to put a transitional government in place one it had achieved international recognition.