New Syrian opposition leader vows greater unity

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The newly-elected leader of the Syrian opposition praised Kurdish participation within his Western-backed National Coalition and vowed to “end the divisions” within the group.

Khaled Khoja, a 49-year-old doctor who left his native Damascus as a teenage revolutionary for Turkey, where he has lived since, replaced the Saudi-backed Hadi al-Bahra. 

The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces elected the new leader with 56 of the 106 votes during a closed meeting earlier this week in Istanbul.

The post of the vice president will go to a Kurdish member, the National Coalition’s spokesperson said Sunday. 

“The Kurdish members of the Coalition have worked remarkably well towards a consensus within the group,” Khoja told Rudaw. “Kurds have had a positive role in bringing unity back to the Coalition,” he said.

The National Coalition is the only Syrian opposition group with Western support – albeit tenuous. It has been accused in the past of being out of touch with ordinary people and fighters on the ground in Syria.

In November, the group sent troops to the besieged city of Kobane in support of Kurdish fighters resisting an ISIS takeover.

“Kurds are our brothers and have valid claims,” Khoja said. “They will share the responsibilities with us,” he added.

Khoja also said he would work to increase the participation of women in the Coalition.

Syria has been locked in a bloody civil war since 2011, with more than 200,000 people killed in the conflict. According to the latest figures more than 76,000 people, many of them children, lost their lives last year.