Syria's main opposition group's efforts to topple the regime are being frustrated by defections, split factions and deep ideological divisions, leaked emails from the leader of the Syrian National Council show.
Syria's main opposition group's efforts to topple the regime are being frustrated by defections, split factions and deep ideological divisions, leaked emails from the leader of the Syrian National Council show.
Messages published in the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper were purportedly lifted from the email account of Burhan Ghalioun, the SNC leader, by pro-regime hackers in retaliation for an expose last month of President Bashar al Assad's private correspondence.
They disclose how splits and factional infighting are undermining the Council's capacity to combat the regime.
In one message, dated February 26, Mohammed Farouk Tayfour, the leader of the influential Muslim Brotherhood and deputy president of the SNC, wrote to Mr Ghalioun demanding that his spokesman, Bassma Kodmani, be removed after she expressed that Israel was a necessity in the Middle East.
"She should stop her statements that are harming the council," he wrote.
Occupying one quarter of the SNC's 270 seats, the Muslim Brotherhood's sway has alienated other factions in the umbrella group.
Last month the Syrian Kurdish opposition walked out amid claims that the SNC refused to include wording about the rights of Kurds. Representing around 10 per cent of the Syrian population, losing the Kurdish minority represented a dangerous fragmentation of the Syrian opposition.
"The Kurdish National Council is not ready for dialogue with us at this moment. A dialogue will only take place after their next conference, in two or three weeks", listed the minutes of an SNC meeting on April 4.
The continued discord highlights what activists have called a failing of the international community to recognise the exiled SNC, restricting its political clout inside Syria.
Last month the Friends of Syria group, which includes Turkey, the US, Britain, France and Gulf states, recognised the SNC as "a legitimate representative of the Syrian people", but fell short of recognising it as the legal government in exile, as it had hoped.
"Because there wasn't any real impetus for change from outside in the first five to six months, that killed the opposition, made them look weak on the Syrian street," Rami Jarrah, a political activist, said.
Amid political wrangling and a dwindling ceasefire, violence continued in Syria yesterday (Sunday). The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 12 deaths. Troops backed by tanks stormed the Damascus suburb of Douma; security forces opened fire on Idlib; and at least six people were said to have been killed in Homs.
UN monitors visited the central city of Hama and nearby Rastan accompanied by armed rebels. In other parts of the country, armed opposition groups hit back at the regime, bombing a military convoy in the north, allegedly killing four soldiers.
The armed opposition to President Assad is also becoming dangerously fragmented, according to analysts.
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