Syria's Rebel Islamist Factions Reject Western Backed Leaders And Groups

Syrian Rebel Alliance Rejects Western-Backed Leaders -- Wall Street Journal

Move by Islamist Groups Undercuts Efforts to Organize Opposition

GAZIANTEP, Turkey—An alliance of Syrian rebels, including a U.S.-designated terrorist group and several Western-backed factions, rejected the leadership of a main Syrian political opposition body and called for a unified Islamic rebel structure.

The statement, signed late Tuesday by some of the most powerful Islamist factions in the Syrian rebel insurgency, threatens to undercut international attempts to organize the political opposition, to isolate extremists from rebels that receive Western funding, training and arms and to move both toward peace talks with the regime.

It comes as leaders of the Syrian Opposition Coalition—the Western-backed political opposition body made largely of exiled dissidents—are in New York lobbying international governments for more support and action against President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The statement on Tuesday rejected what it called "groups abroad" and their attempts to represent rebels, namely the coalition's so-called interim prime minister, Ahmed Tohme.

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More News On Syria's Rebel Islamist Factions Rejecting Western Backed Leaders And Groups

Syria rebels reject opposition coalition, call for Islamic leadership -- Reuters
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Islamist rebels in Syria reject National Coalition -- BBC
Syrian rebels reject interim government, embrace Sharia -- CNN
Islamist rebel groups break from moderate Syrian opposition coalition -- UPI
Key Syrian rebels reject National Coalition -- Al Jazeera
Syria schism: West-backed rebels shun West-backed opposition coalition -- RT
13 Islamist factions reject leadership of exiled Syrian opposition coalition -- Xinhuanet
Syria crisis: Coalition of powerful rebel groups rejects Western-backed opposition -- The Independent
New Islamist Bloc Declares Opposition To National Coalition And US Strategy – Analysis -- Aron Lund for Syria Comment/Eurasia Review
Factbox: Syrian rebels against opposition coalition -- Reuters