Syrian rebel army asked to step away from civil war path

Syria’s main opposition leader has urged military defectors to limit their actions to defending anti-government protesters but fears his influence may not be enough to prevent civil war.

Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun said he pressed the leader of the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella group of armed rebels, to rein-in operations after they launched a series of attacks on troops loyal to president Bashar al-Assad.

“We are worried that we will slide towards a civil war which pits a free army and an official army against each other,” he said. “We want to avoid [that] at all costs.”

In the last month, army rebels have attacked security forces, destroyed part of an armoured convoy, opened fire on an intelligence centre on the outskirts of Damascus and killed six pilots at an air force base.

Mr Ghalioun said he had asked the head of the Free Syrian Army, Colonel Riyad al-Asaad, to “limit his actions to the protection of the demonstrators … but never to launch attacks, operations against the Syrian army forces”.

Col Asaad agreed but insisted that the Free Syrian Army actions were “defensive operations”, Mr Ghalioun said.

“I hope he will keep his word and it is fundamental for the success of our revolution to preserve its peaceful character, that means popular demonstrations,” Mr Ghalioun said. “We do not want to transform into [a] militia that fights against an army.”

Mr Ghalioun was in Vienna to rally support for his 260-member opposition council formed in Istanbul three months ago. He said foreign intervention may be inevitable if the bloodshed continued, but Mr Assad would bear responsibility if that happened.

“It is up to the current regime to avoid a civil war, meaning an army against an army and military intervention that everyone wants to avoid,” he said.

Austria’s foreign minister, Michael Spindelegger, also said yesterday that Mr Assad must step down immediately and be held accountable for any human rights abuses committed during a crackdown on opposition protesters.

As a member of the United Nations human rights council, Austria had a duty to help highlight the “atrocities of the regime” and to ensure they are judged at an international level, he said following a meeting with Mr Ghalioun.

Turkey also warned Syria yesterday that it would act to protect itself if a government crackdown on protesters threatened regional security and unleashed a tide of refugees on its borders.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: “If a government that is fighting its own people … is putting not only their own security at risk but also that of Turkey, then we have a responsibility and the authority to say to them: ‘Enough!’”