[h=3]By NOUR MALAS[/h]President Barack Obama said the U.S. now recognizes Syria's main opposition group as the "legitimate representative" of the country's people, a move that paves the way for greater U.S. support as the group seeks the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al- Assad.
In an interview with ABC News, Mr. Obama said the Syrian Opposition Council is now "inclusive enough" to be granted greater legitimacy in the international community. The president said that level of recognition comes with responsibility, including making sure the group organizes itself effectively and is committed to a political transition that respects the rights of women and minorities.
"It is a big step," Mr. Obama said.
AFP/Getty ImagesSmoke billows from burning tires as Syrian rebels of the Halab al-Shabah battalion under Al-Tawhid brigade take position during clashes with regime forces in Aleppo in November.
The moves comes ahead of the "Friends of Syria" meeting in Morocco, that brings together more than 80 nations, including key international opponents of Mr. Assad.
There has been rising concern over the influence of extremist groups, at least one of which the U.S. and European nations link to al Qaeda, in the rebel insurgency. Many of these groups have reliable funding streams from jihadist networks across the Middle East and may have become too powerful on the battlefield to sideline politically.
"There is a small element of those who oppose the Assad regime that are affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq … and we are going to make clear to distinguish between those elements of the opposition," Mr. Obama said Tuesday.
Since helping forge better political representation for the opposition at a meeting in Qatar in November, the U.S. and its allies have focused on isolating extremist groups on the ground by improving the funding lines to mainstream rebel groups, Syrian rebels and U.S. officials said.
"Can the Friends of Syria out-buy the extremists? Buying loyalty on the ground, that's one of the big questions on the table," a Western diplomat involved with the Syrian opposition said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned two senior leaders of the Syrian Islamist militant rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra for their ties to al Qaeda in Iraq. The move comes after the State Department moved last week to designate the group, the only Syrian rebel group believed to be formally linked to al Qaeda, a foreign terrorist organization and an alias for al Qaeda in Iraq, or AQI.
The coalition's relative success—Western diplomats say they have started to work with it to engage local councils in the country— has created a genuine momentum for the rebels that had evaporated over the past six months as fighting ripped through Syria and the army resorted to heavier weapons.
That has included military gains by rebels, who have shot down regime aircraft and captured several army bases in the past month. They are benefiting from antiaircraft rockets and better intelligence coordination with by Turkey and some Western allies.
Last week, fighting on the highway to Damascus International Airport and the threat of rebel rocket attacks on the airport grounded flights for days. The government, in response, has redoubled its efforts in suppressing rebels in the Damascus suburbs, opposition strongholds that help supply antigovernment fighters to the capital. The regime has also sealed off parts of the capital to disrupt rebel movements.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking Tuesday en route to Kuwait, said U.S. intelligence agencies haven't detected any new steps by the government to prepare chemical weapons for possible use.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury said Jabhat al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for nearly 600 terrorist attacks in Syria since November 2011, describing them as "attempts by AQI to hijack the struggles of the legitimate Syrian opposition to further its now-extremist ideology."
Underscoring the new Western focus on sidelining extremist rebels, military and intelligence officials from the U.S., U.K., France, Turkey, and some Arab countries attended a meeting in Turkey of Syrian rebel fighters last week. The meeting named Salim Idriss, the secular head of the War College in Aleppo, as the chief-of-staff of a new, 30-member rebel council, people who attended the meeting said.
The council is supposed unify rebel ranks and eventually bring it under the civilian authority of a rebel government. It aims to sideline some of the most extremist Islamist groups by excluding them from an organizational structure that will receive foreign funding and arms that are flowing with the coordination of Arab Gulf states.
But leading the fight on key front lines are the rebel groups the West views as most problematic. Sidelining them may be impossible.
In a sign of defiance, more than two dozen Islamist fighting groups last week met and discussed setting up their own political branches to avoid being outmaneuvered by the new, internationally-backed rebel council, rebels familiar with the meeting said.
Jabhat al-Nusra wasn't invited to either of the meetings held in Turkey last week. But some of the groups in the meeting of Islamist factions regularly cooperate with the al Qaeda-linked rebels and have sought greater cooperation with a group they see as well-funded and sophisticated.
There have been small successes on which the rebels' foreign backers want to capitalize by offering more support for rebel military and political councils. Rebel groups like the Tawhid Brigade in Aleppo, which have gained the approval of Western states, now have units dedicated to counter the influence of extremist rebels, sometimes by fighting them. A Tawhid unit in November beat back in 300 fighters in Aleppo that were pledging allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra, said rebels and people familiar with the negotiations.
The recent mix of rebel political and military gains, by raising pressure again on a regime that appeared to have the upper hand just a few months ago, has also reopened a window for a political settlement with international allies of President Assad, U.S. and European officials said. Washington and Moscow last week held talks with the international special envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, in revived negotiations on how to move toward a United Nations Security Council-backed agreement for a Syrian transition government. Russia and the U.S. disagree on the mechanisms of a transition, including any role for the Syrian president in it.
"We strongly believe with the coalition there is a possibility to have a real, credible alternative to the regime," a senior French official said, adding, "We also believe that we, and the Syrians, will not have so many options. This may be the last serious opportunity…to avoid having long, destabilizing dynamics in the near future. Time is of the essence. Things are moving very quickly."
—Adam Entous in Kuwait City
contributed to this article.Write to Nour Malas at [email protected]
In an interview with ABC News, Mr. Obama said the Syrian Opposition Council is now "inclusive enough" to be granted greater legitimacy in the international community. The president said that level of recognition comes with responsibility, including making sure the group organizes itself effectively and is committed to a political transition that respects the rights of women and minorities.
"It is a big step," Mr. Obama said.
AFP/Getty ImagesSmoke billows from burning tires as Syrian rebels of the Halab al-Shabah battalion under Al-Tawhid brigade take position during clashes with regime forces in Aleppo in November.
The moves comes ahead of the "Friends of Syria" meeting in Morocco, that brings together more than 80 nations, including key international opponents of Mr. Assad.
There has been rising concern over the influence of extremist groups, at least one of which the U.S. and European nations link to al Qaeda, in the rebel insurgency. Many of these groups have reliable funding streams from jihadist networks across the Middle East and may have become too powerful on the battlefield to sideline politically.
"There is a small element of those who oppose the Assad regime that are affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq … and we are going to make clear to distinguish between those elements of the opposition," Mr. Obama said Tuesday.
Since helping forge better political representation for the opposition at a meeting in Qatar in November, the U.S. and its allies have focused on isolating extremist groups on the ground by improving the funding lines to mainstream rebel groups, Syrian rebels and U.S. officials said.
"Can the Friends of Syria out-buy the extremists? Buying loyalty on the ground, that's one of the big questions on the table," a Western diplomat involved with the Syrian opposition said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned two senior leaders of the Syrian Islamist militant rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra for their ties to al Qaeda in Iraq. The move comes after the State Department moved last week to designate the group, the only Syrian rebel group believed to be formally linked to al Qaeda, a foreign terrorist organization and an alias for al Qaeda in Iraq, or AQI.
The coalition's relative success—Western diplomats say they have started to work with it to engage local councils in the country— has created a genuine momentum for the rebels that had evaporated over the past six months as fighting ripped through Syria and the army resorted to heavier weapons.
That has included military gains by rebels, who have shot down regime aircraft and captured several army bases in the past month. They are benefiting from antiaircraft rockets and better intelligence coordination with by Turkey and some Western allies.
Last week, fighting on the highway to Damascus International Airport and the threat of rebel rocket attacks on the airport grounded flights for days. The government, in response, has redoubled its efforts in suppressing rebels in the Damascus suburbs, opposition strongholds that help supply antigovernment fighters to the capital. The regime has also sealed off parts of the capital to disrupt rebel movements.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking Tuesday en route to Kuwait, said U.S. intelligence agencies haven't detected any new steps by the government to prepare chemical weapons for possible use.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury said Jabhat al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for nearly 600 terrorist attacks in Syria since November 2011, describing them as "attempts by AQI to hijack the struggles of the legitimate Syrian opposition to further its now-extremist ideology."
Underscoring the new Western focus on sidelining extremist rebels, military and intelligence officials from the U.S., U.K., France, Turkey, and some Arab countries attended a meeting in Turkey of Syrian rebel fighters last week. The meeting named Salim Idriss, the secular head of the War College in Aleppo, as the chief-of-staff of a new, 30-member rebel council, people who attended the meeting said.
The council is supposed unify rebel ranks and eventually bring it under the civilian authority of a rebel government. It aims to sideline some of the most extremist Islamist groups by excluding them from an organizational structure that will receive foreign funding and arms that are flowing with the coordination of Arab Gulf states.
But leading the fight on key front lines are the rebel groups the West views as most problematic. Sidelining them may be impossible.
In a sign of defiance, more than two dozen Islamist fighting groups last week met and discussed setting up their own political branches to avoid being outmaneuvered by the new, internationally-backed rebel council, rebels familiar with the meeting said.
Jabhat al-Nusra wasn't invited to either of the meetings held in Turkey last week. But some of the groups in the meeting of Islamist factions regularly cooperate with the al Qaeda-linked rebels and have sought greater cooperation with a group they see as well-funded and sophisticated.
There have been small successes on which the rebels' foreign backers want to capitalize by offering more support for rebel military and political councils. Rebel groups like the Tawhid Brigade in Aleppo, which have gained the approval of Western states, now have units dedicated to counter the influence of extremist rebels, sometimes by fighting them. A Tawhid unit in November beat back in 300 fighters in Aleppo that were pledging allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra, said rebels and people familiar with the negotiations.
The recent mix of rebel political and military gains, by raising pressure again on a regime that appeared to have the upper hand just a few months ago, has also reopened a window for a political settlement with international allies of President Assad, U.S. and European officials said. Washington and Moscow last week held talks with the international special envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, in revived negotiations on how to move toward a United Nations Security Council-backed agreement for a Syrian transition government. Russia and the U.S. disagree on the mechanisms of a transition, including any role for the Syrian president in it.
"We strongly believe with the coalition there is a possibility to have a real, credible alternative to the regime," a senior French official said, adding, "We also believe that we, and the Syrians, will not have so many options. This may be the last serious opportunity…to avoid having long, destabilizing dynamics in the near future. Time is of the essence. Things are moving very quickly."
—Adam Entous in Kuwait City
contributed to this article.Write to Nour Malas at [email protected]