Syria opposition rejects international plan

BEIRUT -- Syria's main opposition groups yesterday rejected a new international plan that calls for a transitional government because the compromise agreement did not bar President Bashar Assad from participating.

Their reaction encouraged little hope for an end to more than 15 months of carnage on a day when the main opposition group said 800 people were killed in the past week alone.

Opposition activist groups say more than 14,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad's authoritarian rule began in March 2011. That would make last week's toll alone almost as high as the monthly average as government forces furiously pounded rebellious towns and cities with helicopters, tanks and artillery in an offensive aimed at recovering rebel-held territories.

On Saturday, world powers meeting in Geneva accepted a UN-brokered plan calling for creation of a transitional national unity government with full executive powers in Syria. But, at Russia's insistence, the compromise agreement left open the door to Assad's being part of the interim administration. It could also include members of Assad's government and the opposition and other groups.

The opposition has long opposed any solution that involved negotiating with Assad or letting him retain power.

Bassma Kodmani, a Paris-based spokeswoman for the opposition Syrian National Council, said the agreement is "ambiguous" and lacks a mechanism or timetable for implementation. She said there were some positive elements in the plan, which implies that all members of the Security Council were in agreement that the transition period must not be led by Assad. But she said this needs to be more explicit.

Assad has said his government has a responsibility to eliminate "terrorists," his term for those fighting the regime, and will not accept any non-Syrian model of governance.

At the Geneva conference, the United States backed away from insisting that the plan should explicitly bar Assad from any role in a new government, hoping the concession would encourage Russia to put greater pressure on its longtime ally to end the violence.

Syria shot down a warplane from Turkey on June 22, and Turkey responded by setting up anti-aircraft guns along the border. Sunday, Turkey said it scrambled fighter jets after Syrian helicopters flew too close to the frontier.