Quarrel in Coalition's meeting between rebels and opposition member

The ongoing Coalition meeting in Istanbul to name new leader had witnessed today a brawl between FSA representatives and a member of the coalition at the hotel. Zaman Alwasl reporter said.

Prominent dissident Michael Kilo and Sheikh Salem al-Muslet intervened to resolve the quarrel which was very close to being fist-clash.

The main accusation to coalition members by rebels was sense of indifference when the FSA fighters are sacrificing their lives and everything while some coalition members don't care about all those sacrifices.

The coalition met on Thursday under pressure to name a new leader and prove to its Western and Arab backers it can be trusted with advanced weapons to beat back a concerted offensive by Bashar al-Assad, Reuters quoted.

The opposition's inability to unite has made Western countries reluctant to send weapons, even as Assad's forces have seized the initiative in recent months and Washington and its European allies have vowed to aid his enemies. Reuters reported.

The Syrian National Coalition has been without a leader since last March when Mouaz al-Khatib made a surprise announcement that he was stepping down as president of the coalition.

The 27-month-long conflict has claimed more than 100,000 lives, the Human Rights Observatory announced Wednesday. The war has also driven 1.7 million refugees to seek shelter in neighboring countries and is turning into a proxy conflict for Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim powers in the Middle East.

Zaman Alwasl