BEIRUT – Syria's divided rebels have agreed to set up a joint leadership to oversee their battle to overthrow President Bashar Al-Assad, after coming under increasing pressure from their foreign supporters to unite, two rebel sources said Tuesday. The decision, taken by dozens of rebels – including Free Syrian Army leaders – at a meeting inside Syria Sunday, aims to improve military coordination among fighters and create a single leadership which they hope outside powers would be prepared to arm with more powerful weapons. “The agreement has been reached, they only need to sign it now,” one rebel source said. Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes unleashed a wave of air raids on rebel belts in the north Tuesday even as the UN appealed for a nationwide ceasefire during the upcoming holiday of Eid Al-Adha. International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi issued the call for a truce as he traveled to Cairo as part of a regional tour to thrash out a possible solution to the conflict. The morning air strikes around Maaret Al-Numan were termed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as the “most violent” since insurgents captured the strategic town last week. The warplanes dropped bombs in a bid to break a rebel blockade of a highway, which is preventing army reinforcements from reaching second city Aleppo, theater of intense fighting for the past three months, the group said. – Agencies
