Opposition names 72-member council to replace Assad

Syrian opposition activists meeting in Istanbul have named the members of a Syrian National Council to provide an alternative to president Bashar al-Assad’s government as his brutal crackdown continues.

Addressing a news conference yesterday at the end of four days of talks in Turkey, Basma Kadmani, a Syrian exile living in France, said the council aimed to help topple Mr Assad’s dictatorship within six months and form a interim government.

“The political vision of the council will give a push to the escalation of the revolutionary work we are seeing,” she said.

“This group, based on previous initiatives, and on what the street is demanding, is calling for the downfall of the regime.”

While condemning the Syrian government’s repressive response to pro-democracy protests, the international community has bemoaned the lack of a unified opposition to talk to. By finalising names of its members, drawn from Syria’s various political, religious and ethnic groups, the council hopes to fill that gap.

Some 140 people were chosen as council members, of which 40 per cent were based outside Syria. A list of 72 members was circulated but the names of those inside Syria were withheld. Islamists were chosen alongside left-wingers, nationalists and independents, and representatives of religious and ethnic groups.