Syria Opposition Form Coalition Against Assad

Syria's opposition groups have agreed after days of wrangling to unite against President Bashar al Assad and elected a moderate cleric as its leader.

After four days of talks in Qatar, representatives of groups including rebel fighters, veteran dissidents and ethnic and religious minorities agreed to form a new coalition that its Western and Arab backers hope can topple Mr Assad.

Muslim cleric Ahmed Moaz al Khatib, 52, a Damascus moderate who left quit Syria three months ago, was elected president of the coalition, with prominent dissident Riad Seif and female opposition figure Suhair al Atassi chosen as his deputies.

Mr Seif, who championed the US-backed reform proposals on which the agreement was based, said the group signed "a 12-point agreement to establish a coalition".

In a document seen by journalists, the parties have agreed "to work for the fall of the regime and of all its symbols and pillars", and ruled out any dialogue with Mr Assad's government.

They agreed to unify the fighting forces under a supreme military council and to set up a national judicial commission for rebel-held areas.

A provisional government would be formed after the coalition "gains international recognition", and a transitional government after the regime has fallen.

It remains to be seen whether the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces can overcome four decades of rule by President Assad's family.

But for allies who see the coalition emulating Libya's Transitional National Council, the deal has been welcomed.

Can the new coalition break a stalemate Syria's civil war?

"We will strive from now on to have this new body recognised completely by all parties... as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people," said Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim of Qatar, a supporter of the rebels.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu said there was "no excuse any more" for foreign governments not to support an opposition whose internal divisions had given many pause.

France, a vocal backer of the rebels and which once ruled Syria, hailed the deal.

"France will work with its partners to secure international recognition of this new entity as the representative of the aspirations of the Syrian people," foreign minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement.

The US had also strongly promoted the plan for the Doha meeting to unite the various factions.

Meanwhile, Israel has fired warning shots into Syria after mortar fire from fighting in the civil war-hit nation hit the UN-monitored ceasefire line between Syria and the occupied Golan Heights.

It was the first time Israel has been drawn into the unrest in the neighbouring country, and was the first Israeli fire directed at the Syrian military since the 1973 war.

It came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet that Israel was "ready for any development" and as his defence minister warned a "tougher response" would follow.

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