Key Syrian Rebels Reject National Coalition
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Key Syrian rebel groups say they do not recognise any foreign-based opposition group, including the Syrian National Coalition.
"The National Coalition and the proposed government under (recently chosen) Ahmad Tomeh does not represent us, nor do we recognise it," 13 of Syria's most powerful rebel groups said in a joint statement.
The groups include members of the main rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), as well as Liwa al-Tawhid, the main rebel force in the northern province of Aleppo, and Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda-linked group, Al Jazeera reported.
The UN Security Council blacklisted al-Nusra Front as an alias of al-Qaeda in Iraq in May, while the US State Department had designated the group as a terrorist organisation in December last year.
Ahrar al-Sham also signed on, as did the 19th Division, a significant but relatively new addition to the mainstream FSA.
The statement comes amid an escalation of violence pitting fighters from various factions across the rebel spectrum against another al-Qaeda front group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Rebel groups have increasingly been fighting amongst themselves in recent weeks.
The ISIL, a US-designated "terrorist organisation", announced last week it would "go to war" against two other rebel groups in the town of al-Bab, in Aleppo governorate.
