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Syria's Coalition sacks Interim Government


(ISTANBUL- Zaman Alwasl)- 65 members of Syrian National Coalition Tuesday voted to dissolve the interim government as all efforts to give Mr. Ahmad Toumeh another chance have been failed in the ongoing 3-day meeting in Istanbul.

Zaman Alwasl sources say that members loyal to the coalition former head Ahmed Jarba have fiercely rejected Tumeh’s government and voted against giving the government another chance for a new term.

The Coalition said in a statement on Tuesday it was dissolving its interim cabinet to "create new ground for work on the basis of moving the government into the interior as soon as possible, and employing Syrian revolutionary capabilities".

The coalition's interim Prime Minister Ahmed Toumeh and other ministers would continue as caretakers until the new government was formed, it said. Nominations would be open for two weeks and a new government formed within 30 days.

The dissolution of the government comes two weeks after the group elected Hadi al-Bahra, a U.S.-trained industrial engineer, to replace its president, Ahmad Jarba, after he served his maximum two six-month terms.

Both Bahra and Jarba have close ties to Saudi Arabia, one of the main backers of the rebels trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Bahra had also been chief negotiator at U.S. and Russian-sponsored peace talks in Switzerland, which stalled after two rounds in January and February.

The disputes between Jarba and Toumeh have been escalating since last June when the latter dissolved the Supreme Military Council (SMC). Jarba said the interim government’s decision was void and out of Tumeh’s powers.

Well-informed source told Zaman Alwasl that Mr. Iyad Qudsi to head the new government according to the big support from ‘Jarba’s front’.

The government with its 11 ministers was formed last November and based in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, near Syrian borders.

Opposition figures, said there’s a 'conflict of interest' between the interim government and the Coalition leadership.

The rifts have been escalated as the armed Islamist groups have become the most powerful force against Bashar al-Assad, who has long portrayed himself as the defender of a secular order in Syria.

Syria's conflict, now in its fourth year, has killed at least 171,000 people, according to activists. Nearly three million Syrians have fled the country. (With Reuters)

 



Zaman Alwasl-Istanbul
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