Syria opposition National Council to rejoin Coalition

   The opposition Syrian National Council said Friday it will rejoin the umbrella coalition from which it withdrew in protest at the Geneva peace talks with the regime.

The SNC, the biggest bloc in Syria's opposition-in-exile, quit the National Coalition on January 20 because of its participation in the talks.

But on Friday, the group said it had decided "on the return of the SNC bloc and all its components to the ranks of the ... Coalition," at a two-day meeting of its general assembly in Istanbul, AFP reported.

The Council said the decision came after the talks in Switzerland "failed to achieve the goals of the Syrian people".

A second round of talks in Geneva between regime representatives and the opposition, dubbed Geneva II, ended on February 15 without results and with no date set for more negotiations.

The SNC said it supported the "unity of the Syrian opposition," and called for a "closing of its ranks to achieve the goals of the Syrian revolution".

The political command of National Coalition last week issued a warning to all 44-quitted members to return or to send their resignations in an ultimatum of 48 hours, according to Zaman Alwasl.

Many opposition figures denounced the coalition ultimatum as Dr. Khaled Khoja who loomed to Zaman Alwasl last weel about an intention by coalition presidency to monopolize power as taking unilateral decisions; we have seen that in Salim Idriss dismissal from Joint Chiefs of Staff. "What they want right now is loyalty before working for the revolution," he added.

Marwan Hijo al-Rifai, head of the Membership Committee and a member of the Legal Committee in the National Coalition said the SNC is still the Coalition biggest bloc with its 22 members, according to the first paragraph of Article 3 in the Coalition statute.  

Al-Rifai assured in his statement, seen by Zaman Alawsl, that all coalition members should be united due to the critical period of Syrian revolution, «We need to save all efforts to protect the only legitimate opposition body who has been recognized by the International Community," he said, adding, we have to keep the principles of Syrian revolution and to achieve its goals in Freedom dignity and equality."

Syria's war has since March 2011 killed more than 140,000 people and forced millions more to flee.