(MENAFN- The Peninsula) In a volte face, a top Syrian rebel leader who advocated a military solution to the Syrian crisis has come out openly backing a Russian-brokered political settlement.
The Russian initiative involves the Syrian regime as the centre point of peace talks with the country's opposition.
Dr Mohamed Rahal, based in Sweden, called for a truce in his home country to enable a Syrian-Syrian dialogue for peace.
But he said the only problem with the Russian initiative was that Moscow had invited Ahmed Maaz Al Khateeb, a former chairman of Syrian National Coalition who is a backer of terrorists, to be part of the peace talks.
Rahal told a news conference in Beirut on Saturday that a fresh coalition of Syrian opposition forces should be created and a new national unity government set up.
The new government must fight terrorists in Syria and make sure that foreign terror groups operating on Syrian soil are expelled, Beirut-based Arabic daily Al Akhbar reported yesterday.
"I am trying to make sure that the Syrian state is intact and the current opposition coalition is cancelled. We need to form a new national coalition," Rahal said, according to London-based online newspaper 'Ilaf'.
The majority of members of the interim government of Syria are backers of terrorists, he said. "All non-Syrian groups in the country must leave."
Rahal said the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates in Syria should be declared terror outfits and reiterated that the peace process advocated by Arabs, Europeans, Americans and Russians be given a chance.
He said the Russian stance had changed, as in the beginning Moscow was asking the Syrian opposition to talk to the regime directly, but now it is holding talks with the opposition and trying to help set up a political body representing the opposition groups so it could hold talks with the Syrian regime.
"My party's differences with the Russian initiative are over inviting Ahmed Al Khateeb for talks with the Syrian regime."
The National Coalition should be headed by someone very prominent who has influence over the Free Syrian Army and non-Islamic organisations.
Al Khateeb cannot head the national unity government because he doesn't have influence over the Free Army. "He's half Muslim Brotherhood."
On Iran, he said its role was that of the Syrian regime. It is supporting killings and sending militias to Syria. "I would prefer an Egyptian role in a political solution to the crisis in Syria."
Media groups sympathetic to the Syrian regime have welcomed Rahal's call for a political solution to the crisis and described him as presenting a national vision for the future of Syria.
An Iranian news website 'alalam' said sarcastically that Rahal had recovered from a coma after four years as he had been a staunch supporter of military solution to the crisis.
"He believed in getting weapons from wherever possible and roping in even foreigners to fight the Syrian regime. Now he has had a change of heart," the website said.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah met Ahmed Saleh Tumah Al Khader, the Premier of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces in Doha.
They discussed the situation in Syria and exchanged views on the Syrian interim government, QNA reported.
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