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Syrian opposition chief says against attacks on army

PARIS — The leader of the main Syrian opposition group in exile said on Thursday that his organisation does not want to see rebels launch armed attacks on Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Speaking after talks in Paris with the French government, Burhan Ghaliun of the Syrian National Council, said the fledgling Free Syrian Army should try to avoid direct confrontation with regime troops.

“We would like this army to carry out defensive actions to protect those who have left the (regime’s) army and peaceful demonstrations, but not take on offensive actions against the army,” he said.

In recent weeks there have been increasing reports that a rebel army has begun fighting Assad’s regime in parallel to a largely peaceful street revolt that has faced brutal repression from regular forces.

This has increased fears that the nine-month old revolt against the authoritarian regime is slipping towards civil war.