Talk to Al Jazeera

Moaz al-Khatib: A united Syrian opposition

Head of Syrian Opposition Coalition and Qatari Minister Khalid Al-Attiyah talk about negotiations that led to an accord.

After more than a year of division, infighting and a lack of international support, the Syrian opposition leaders are finally presenting a united front.

They have been independently fighting, day in and day out, to get rid of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Efforts at the United Nations Security Council to isolate the Syrian regime have so far been fruitless. China and Russia have been blocking sanctions against al-Assad. And as long as the opponents were seen to be lacking in a shared vision, there was no compelling voice to call for action.

Now such a voice is emerging.

Intense wrangling in Doha has led to a common platform and a basic message to the world: A new post–Assad era is on the horizon.

Moaz al-Khatib has been elected the president of the new Syrian Opposition Coalition.

He is the imam of the most important mosque in Syria, but many abroad wonder who he is and what he wants. And almost everyone wonders if he can he keep the opposition united.

“I can’t say all [opposition factions] absolutely, but the majority of them, they are with us. And the gate is open for everybody, and I expect more to come and maybe even everybody,” Khatib says.

“Many countries have promised us to support us …. our brothers here in Qatar, in Saudi Arabia, the [United States of] Emirates, some European countries, France and Italy and many others promised to help,” he says.

But will the world support this new group with arms and international recognition? And will the UN security council now act?

And what about the question of how this new unity was brought about?

On this episode of Talk to Al Jazeera, presenter Sami Zeidan, speaks to Moaz Al-Khatib, the president of the new Syrian National Coalition, and Dr Khalid Al-Attiyah, Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs, the man leading the negotiations that produced the deal.

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