DHAKA: Rebels fighting president Bashar al-Assad’s government in southern Syria declared Wednesday that the main opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) had ‘failed’ and that they would no longer recognise the Western-backed group.

The video statement signed by nearly 70 groups came after a group of key rebel groups in the north of the country announced their rejection of the coalition in late September.

‘Having seen the failure of the political groups that claim to represent the opposition and the revolutionary groups ... we leaders of the military and revolutionary groups in the southern provinces withdraw our recognition from any political group that claims to represent us,’ a rebel spokesman said in the video.

The spokesman referred specifically to ‘the coalition and its leadership’, Turkish daily Hurriyet publishes this report on Thursday.

Nearly 70 rebel groups signed on to the statement, which comes after fighters in northern Syria said last month they also rejected the coalition.

Filmed in an unnamed desert area, the video statement shows rebels dressed in army fatigues and holding up their weapons. Behind them is a banner with the mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) logo.

Speaking to media, the FSA’s political and media coordinator, Louay Muqdad, said the statement was not a rejection of the mainstream rebel force headed by Gen. Salim Idris.

‘We saw the statement, and we will be in contact with the leaders of these groups,’ Muqdad said.

BDST: 1914 HRS, OCT 17, 2013
RoR/GCP