Opposition head sees early delivery of advanced arms

Reuters/Istanbul

The new head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said he expected advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon, strengthening their currently weak military position.

Ahmed Jarba, who has close links to Saudi Arabia, told Reuters in his first interview since being elected president of the coalition on Saturday that the opposition would not go to a proposed peace conference in Geneva sponsored by the US and Russia unless its military fortunes improve.

“Geneva in these circumstances is not possible. If we are going to go to Geneva we have to be strong on the ground, unlike the situation now, which is weak,” Jarba said on Sunday after returning from the northern Syrian province of Idlib, where he met commanders of rebel brigades.

Asked if shoulder-fired weapons that could blunt President Bashar al-Assad’s massive advantage in armour and air power would reach the rebels after Saudi Arabia took a lead role in supporting the opposition in recent weeks, Jarba said: “We are pushing in this direction.”

“I think the situation is better than before. I think these weapons will arrive in Syria soon,” he said.

“My priority (is) to secure two-tier support for the Syrian people: military and humanitarian. We are working on getting advanced and medium-range weapons to the Free Syrian Army and the liberated areas,” he added.

Jarba offered Assad’s forces a truce for the duration of Ramadan to stop fighting in the besieged city of Homs, where Sunni Muslim rebels face a ferocious ground and air onslaught by Hezbollah-backed troops and militias loyal to Assad. There has been no indication that the government is ready to accept such a truce.

Homs, 140km north of Damascus, is situated at a strategic crossing linking the capital with army bases in coastal regions controlled by Assad’s Alawite sect. Assad’s forces have been seeking to establish an axis linking the capital to the Alawite coast.

The city also links Damascus and the coast with Hezbollah strongholds in neighbouring Lebanon.

“We are staring at a real humanitarian disaster in Homs. Assad, whose military machine was on the verge of defeat, has been propped up by Iran and its Hezbollah proxy,” Jarba said.

“I will not rest until I procure the advanced weapons needed to hit back at Assad and his allies. ... I give myself one month to achieve what I am intent on doing,” Jarba said.

After meeting a delegation from Homs, Jarba donated $250,000 of his own money to support humanitarian relief efforts in the city. Activists who met Jarba said the remaining rebellious Sunni neighbourhoods in Homs could fall in days.

Jarba was speaking in Istanbul after a meeting of the Syrian National Coalition, which has little physical presence in Syria and little influence over militant Islamist brigades that play a major role in the fight against Assad’s forces.