US SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that Washington wanted to help the Syrian opposition unite against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime but urged it to resist efforts by ‘extremists’ to hijack the ‘revolution’.
After declaring the Syrian counter-revolution a ‘legitimate revolution’, she added: ‘There are disturbing reports of extremists going into Syria attempting to take over what has been a legitimate revolution against an oppressive regime for their own purposes.’
Clinton issued the warning during her visit to Croatia.
She urged that the opposition should ‘strongly resist the efforts by the extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution’.
Clinton’s comments came as international Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi urged China to help end the escalating conflict that has killed more than 36,000 people since an uprising against Assad’s rule erupted in March last year.
‘We are working very hard with many different elements of opposition inside and outside Syria,’ Clinton told reporters.
She said Washington’s efforts ‘are focused on pressuring the regime through increasing and tightening sanctions, meeting the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people who are displaced, assisting those countries that they seek refuge in, and helping the opposition unite behind a shared, effective strategy that can resist the regime’s violence and begin to provide for a political transition’.
She then demoted the Syrian National Council, who up to that point in her speech had been regarded by the US, UK and France as the legitimate leader of the Syrian people.
The US Secretary of State withdrew the US-granted franchise saying: ‘The opposition umbrella group the Syrian National Council (SNC) can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition.’
She continued to give her permission for them to remain part of the opposition.
‘They can be part of the opposition, but the opposition must include people from inside Syria and others.’
Clinton also called for an opposition ‘leadership structure’ to ensure that all Syrians are represented and protected, adding: ‘There has to be a representation of those who are on the front line fighting and dying today.’
She added: ‘It is not a secret that many inside Syria are worried about what comes next. They have no love lost for the Assad regime, but they worry, rightly so, about the future.
‘And so there needs to be an opposition that can speak to every segment and every geographic part of Syria,’ Clinton said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Syrian opposition groups, including representatives from the SNC and leaders of the Free Syrian Army, called for a transitional government in exile to be formed to win greater political support from the international community.
But in Paris, Russia warned that the ‘bloodbath’ in Syria would continue if the West stuck to its demand for Assad’s ousting.
‘If the position of our partners remains the departure of this leader who they do not like, the bloodbath will continue,’ Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.
Fabius also said France and Russia failed to bridge their differences over Assad’s role in any future transition government at a meeting in Paris.
• Meanwhile in Kuwait, a staunch ally of the US, thousands of people have clashed with the riot police who attacked them for demanding elementary democratic rights.
Opposition groups are to hold emergency meetings after thousands of protesters clashed with police over ex-MP Mussallam al-Barrak’s arrest.
The violent clashes continued throughout Wednesday night between riot police and protesters.
Former opposition MP Mubarak al-Waalan said the meetings would be attended by all opposition groups and youth activists to discuss the clashes which ended in the early hours of Thursday and covered several areas in the Gulf state.
The violence broke out after thousands of protesters marched on the central jail where prominent opposition figure Mussallam al-Barrak remains detained after the public prosecutor extended his detention for ten days on Wednesday.
Barrak, a former MP, is being held on allegations that he undermined the status of the Emir during a public rally on October 15 by criticising him, which is unconstitutional as far as the Kuwaiti feudal constitution is concerned.
The interior ministry said in a statement early Thursday that five policemen were wounded after two vehicles hit them and sped away, one of the vehicles carrying a ‘foreign number plate’.
Activists said that dozens of people, especially children, were rushed to hospital after inhaling gases as riot police extensively used stun grenades and tear gas cannisters in their attempt to disperse the protesters.
The activists said police chased demonstrators in the Sabah Al-Nasser area, a predominantly tribal area near the central jail, into homes and beat them up.
The violence continued in the area until riot police withdrew at around 0300 am (1200 GMT) after seven hours of unrest.
Protests spread to other, mostly tribal areas as police clashed with demonstrators in several residential areas near the oil hub of Al-Ahmadi, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Kuwait City and also in northern Kuwait.
The protests were the second major confrontation between police and the opposition in the past ten days. On October 21, more than 100 people and 11 policemen were hurt during a massive protest.
The opposition plans to stage another demonstration on November 4th amid a stern warning by authorities that any illegal protest will be stopped by force.
The trouble began after the government amended the electoral laws. The opposition claims the change is aimed at electing a rubber stamp parliament.
Kuwait is scheduled to hold snap polls on December 1st which almost all opposition groups are boycotting.
• In that other bastion of US-sponsored ‘revolutions’ Libya, protesters not content with killing the US ambassador and murdering hundreds of people in Bani Walid, stormed Libya’s national assembly on Tuesday, derailing a vote on a cabinet line-up in a new blow to efforts to form a government after the July election.
As he adjourned the session amid chaotic scenes, assembly president Mohammed Megaryef angrily denounced a situation he said was ‘out of control’ more than a year after the overthrow and murder of veteran nationalist leader Muammar Gadaffi at the instigation of NATO and the United States.
Prime minister-designate Ali Zeidan, the second nominee to try to form a government since the July vote, had put before the assembly a 30-member list that includes liberals and Islamists.
But as assembly members prepared to take turns to cast their vote, angry scenes erupted on the floor of the chamber as dozens of armed demonstrators burst in, live television footage showed.
Megaryef said: ‘Let it be known to all Libyans and to the whole world in what conditions we are working… The situation is out of control,’ he said.
