Syrian rebel group calls for antitank arms from abroad

DUBAI — The opposition Syrian National Council yesterday appealed to its foreign allies to provide heavy weapons to fight President Bashar al-Assad’s “killing machine” and said it would soon start talks on forming a transitional government to replace him.

“The rebels are fighting with primitive weapons. We want weapons that we can stop tanks and planes with. This is what we want,” Abdelbasset Sida, head of the Syrian National Council, said.

Syrian opposition groups have failed to unify under one banner, but the council has become the most outspoken, and has the support of powerful foreign states.

Mr Sida was speaking as rebels and government forces backed by tanks and helicopters fought in Aleppo, the main commercial city.

Weapons “will make Syrians able to defend themselves against this killing machine”, he said, adding that the opposition would hold talks within weeks to form a transitional government.

Such a government would run the country between the eventual fall of Mr Assad and democratic elections. It would be drawn from the opposition but some members of the Assad government might also be included, Mr Sida added.

“There are some elements in the current regime who are not bloodstained, who were not part of major corruption cases.”

On Friday, a Syrian parliamentarian representing the northern province of Aleppo defected to Turkey, becoming the first member of the assembly elected in May and dominated by Mr Assad’s Baath Party to defect.

Ms Ikhlas al-Badawi told Sky News Arabia she had left the “tyrannical regime … because of the repression and savage torture against a nation demanding the minimum of rights”.

Criticism of the Syrian National Council’s legitimacy may complicate its efforts to form a transitional government. It backs the Free Syrian Army rebel force, despite having not always overtly supported it in the past. Reuters