Syria's opposition has formed a military council to oversee and organize armed rebels within the country under a unified leadership, Syrian National Council (SNC) leader Burhan Ghalioun said Thursday. “The creation of the military council was agreed upon by all armed forces in Syria,” he told a news conference in Paris. “We will be like a defense ministry.” The SNC has been criticized by some Syrians for not overtly backing armed opposition to President Bashar Al-Assad, which is being led by the Free Syrian Army, a motley collection of army deserters and civilians who have taken up arms. The two bodies, the SNC and FSA, have at times appeared at odds on strategy, with the Council initially reluctant to endorse the FSA's military response to a government crackdown. There was no immediate comment from the FSA. A statement released by the SNC said that the Council was formed due to the “rapid developments on the ground ... and with the need to strengthen the capacity of the Free Syrian Army”. Ghalioun said the pro-democracy movement which started a year ago had remained peaceful for months but due to the violent government response it had had to create the military council. A prominent academic, Ghalioun has been advocating democracy in Syria since the 1970s, when Assad's father was in power. But after months of bloodshed and internal squabbling among the opposition his ability to lead has been called into question. On Sunday, at least 20 prominent members of the 270-strong SNC formed a splinter organization called the Syrian Patriotic Group. They complained the SNC had failed to secure satisfactory results or to listen to the demands of the rebels inside Syria Kuwait assembly calls for arming opposition Kuwait's parliament called Thursday for arms to be sent to Syrian rebels, adding to pressure in some Arab states for action to help topple the Iranian-backed president, Bashar al-Assad. The legislature voted overwhelmingly to recommend the government help arm the Free Syrian Army. With Arab and Western opposition to Assad stalemated at the United Nations by, among others, Russia, a legislator said the Kuwaiti foreign minister told parliament he and counterparts from the six Gulf Cooperation Council states would discuss Syria with Moscow's foreign minister in Saudi Arabia next Wednesday. Commenting on the Kuwaiti parliamentary vote, another member, Ali Al-Dekbafi, said: “Parliament has issued a recommendation stating the urgency of cutting all ties with the Syrian government and supporting the Free Syrian Army. It called for the Syrian government to face international prosecution.” A GCC official confirmed that GCC foreign ministers would meet in the Saudi capital Riyadh Sunday and would gather there again Wednesday for talks to which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be invited. A month ago, Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that supported a call by the Arab League, to which the GCC states belong, for Assad to step aside. The GCC has said that its members would recall ambassadors from Damascus and expel Syrian envoys.
