Syrian Dissidents Form 'National Council' as Evening Demos Staged
Syrian dissidents meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday established a "national council" to coordinate a campaign to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
In a final declaration, activists said the council rejected foreign intervention or the rule of any one ethnic group and emphasized the national character of the "revolution."
"By this (council), the first steps of a large-scale transformation in Syria are taken," it said.
"(The) coming together of all groups is a must despite all dangers. This delegation will bring different groups together," it added.
Months of "sacrifice" in Syria, where many have died in a crackdown by Assad's regime, had created a "sense of unity," activist Ahmed Ramadan said following the four days of talks.
The council would hold its first meeting in about two weeks to elect a chairperson and secretary.
"The council represents all the forces of the opposition from the left to the right," said Louay Safi, a U.S.-based political scientist, adding that it would look at "ways and means" to support the revolution and ensure the regime was "dismantled."
Half the council members would be from opponents inside Syria, said Bashar al-Heraki, an engineer who was among the organizers of protests in the Syrian city of Daraa.
"Syrian people are very interested in such a council, they have been waiting this for a very long time," he said.
The activists gathered in Istanbul were mainly from an Islamist background, but other opposition groups also took part.
Syrian dissidents have held several meetings in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey in recent weeks as Assad's regime stepped up its crackdown on protestors across the country.
UN rights chief Navi Pillay on Monday said 2,200 people had been killed since the mass protests in Syria began in mid-March.
The European Union piled the pressure on Assad's regime by adopting Tuesday sanctions against 15 more people and five businesses as diplomats said more measures were in the offing.
On the ground security forces conducted arrests in eastern Syria while tanks were seen heading towards the town of Al-Bukamal near the border with Iraq, activists said.
In the evening, protesters took to the streets in the capital Damascus and its suburbs and in the regions of Homs, Aleppo, Deir al-Zour and al-Qameshli, opposition activists said on their Facebook pages.
Security forces arrested dozens on Tuesday in the Mayadin region of eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
It also quoted witnesses saying that tanks were rumbling towards the nearby town of Al-Bukamal near the border with Iraq while security forces raided at dawn the Ghota district in the central city of Homs.
Source: Agence France Presse
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