Hijab and Sabbagh quit National Coalition in serious escalation

Former Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab, who defected in July 2012 from Bashar al-Assad's government, and NC former secretary general, Mustafa Al-Sabbagh have resigned from the National Coalition, Zaman Alwasl reporter said.  

NC newly re-elected president Ahmad Jarba, who represents the faction of Syrian veteran secular dissident Michel Kilo, has faced serious escalation for the past months over quitting 41 members and defecting many rebel groups from the free Syrian army- Coalition umbrella- and the mounting presence of al-Qaeda affiliates, besides the deep dividing in the SNC into three major camps; the Jarba camp, the Sabbagh camp, and the Muslim Brotherhood camp.

A well-informed source assured Turkish mediation to heal the rift within Syrian key opposition, National Coalition, after news of defecting more than 40 members.

Zaman Alwasl source said the Turkish officials had canceled a press conference for the resigned members in step solve the disputes and to avoid more escalations.

Dr. Khaled Khoja, NC representative in Turkey, said to Zaman Alwasl that the resignation was a protest against the maladministration of the Coalition top leaders regarding the revolution core issues.

Khoja pointed out that a new opposition alliance to be formed soon including the resigned members.

Beside the Turkish initiative, a new push by some Arab officials to ask NC's members withdraw their resignations, and to find common ground.

The disputes come to surface after reported news that Coalition new elected leader had agreed to go the so-called Geneva 2 process Monday.

 The resignations come a day after NC re-election to Ahmad Jarba as its leader during a general assembly meeting in Istanbul on Sunday.

In serious escalation,  Syrian Islamic Front said it would blacklist Geneva II participants from both sides, Regime and opposition, (whom will be WANTED to IF), according to Islam Army commander, Zahran Alloush, in a tweet posted on his official Twitter account Monday.

Jarba who won 65 votes, was accused by the forty members of rigging the elections and using the political money.

Jarba, who is seen as close to key rebel backer Saudi Arabia, was first elected to head the Coalition in July, and will now lead the group for another six months.

His re-election comes at a sensitive time, less than three weeks away from slated peace talks in Switzerland that would bring rebels and regime representatives to the table.

More than 130,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the conflict in Syria nearly three years ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In a new tally, the group said 130,433 people have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011, including 46,266 civilians.