GCC accredits Syrian opposition representative

Manama: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Saturday said that it has approved the nomination of a representative of the recently formed Syrian opposition coalition to the Council.

The announcement was made by Abdul Lateef Al Zayani, the GCC secretary general, at a meeting with Mustafa Al Sabbagh, secretary general of the of a National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, at a meeting in Manama where they are both attending an international security conference. The coalition had requested the approval of its representative to the the six-member alliance of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“Al Zayani stressed that the GCC would continue to support the Syrian people in fulfilling its legitimate aspirations,” a GCC statement said.

On Friday, Al Sabbagh called upon countries that “supported the Syrian regime, particularly Iran and Russia, to stop sustaining the killing machine and to work with Arab and friendly countries to launch a political process that ends death and destruction.”

“It is not too late yet for these countries to see that Syria is bigger than the political regime that has lost its legitimacy after resorting to death and oppression as it confronts the legitimate demands of its people who have been for decades deprived of their most basic rights,” he said at a panel discussion of the situation in Syria organised by the Manama Dialogue.

According to Al Sabbagh, 40,000 people were killed and more than 50,000 people were injured since the confrontations with the regime started last year.

“Another tragedy is the millions of people who have been forced out of their homes or whose houses have been destroyed, putting Syria in the face of an unprecedented formidable challenge,” he said at the conference.

The national coalition of Syrian factions was established last month in Qatar.

The GCC accreditation was announced days before the Friends of Syria meeting in the southern Moroccan city of Marrakesh on December 12.

Al Sabbagh said that there was high hope that the name of the head of the government would be announced at the gathering.

It will be the fourth meeting of the friends, a group of Arab and Western countries.