Syria's new opposition head Armad Jarba promises firepower

New Syrian National Coalition head says he expects advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon, strengthening their currently weak military position.

Free Syrian Army fighters prepare for an offensive against forces loyal to Bashar Al Assad in Aleppo's Salaheddine neighbourhood.

ISTANBUL // The new head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said he expected advanced weapons supplied by Saudi Arabia to reach rebel fighters soon, strengthening their currently weak military position.

Ahmad Jarba, who has close links to the kingdom, said in his first interview since being elected president of the coalition on Saturday that the opposition would not go to a proposed peace conference in Geneva sponsored by the United States and Russia unless its military fortunes improved.

"Geneva in these circumstances is not possible. If we are going to go to Geneva we have to be strong on the ground, unlike the situation now, which is weak," Mr Jarba said on Sunday after returning from the northern Syrian province of Idlib, where he met commanders of rebel brigades.

Asked if shoulder-fired weapons that could blunt President Bashar Al Assad's massive advantage in armour and air power would reach the rebels after Saudi Arabia took a lead role in supporting the opposition in recent weeks, Mr Jarba said: "We are pushing in this direction.

"I think the situation is better than before. I think these weapons will arrive in Syria soon.

"My priority is to secure two-tier support for the Syrian people - military and humanitarian. We are working on getting advanced and medium-range weapons to the Free Syrian Army and the liberated areas."

Mr Jarba offered Mr Al Assad's forces a truce for the duration of Ramadan, which was expected to begin today, to stop fighting in the besieged city of Homs, where Sunni rebels face a ferocious ground and air onslaught by troops and militias loyal to Mr Al Assad, backed by fighters from the Lebanese Shiite group Hizbollah. There has been no indication that the government is ready to accept such a truce.

Homs, 140 kilometres north of Damascus, is situated at a strategic crossing linking the capital with army bases in coastal regions controlled by Mr Al Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that has dominated majority Sunni Syria since the 1960s. Mr Al Assad's forces have been seeking to establish an axis linking the capital to the Alawite coast.

The city also links Damascus and the coast with Hizbollah strongholds in neighbouring Lebanon.

"We are staring at a real humanitarian disaster in Homs. Assad, whose military machine was on the verge of defeat, has been propped up by Iran and its Hizbollah proxy," Mr Jarba said.

The coalition's meeting last week resulted in an overhaul of its leadership and a power shift in favour of a Saudi-backed wing, which defeated in a series of elections a faction headed by Mustafa Al Sabbagh, a businessman who is Qatar's point man.

Mr Jarba, 44, won with a razor-thin margin in a run-off ballot against Mr Al Sabbagh, whose faction suffered a rout in elections late on Sunday for a new coalition politburo.

Born in the north-eastern Syrian province of Hasaka, which is inhabited by Arabs and Kurds, Mr Jarba belongs to Shammar, a large Arab tribe that extends into Saudi Arabia and Iraq. He was a political prisoner for two years in the 1990s.

He was also arrested during the uprising against four decades of family rule by Mr Al Assad and his father, which erupted in March 2011. Mr Jarba fled to Saudi Arabia, a Sunni state that is leading support for the Syrian opposition and backed Mr Jarba against Qatar's Mr Al Sabbagh.

During his time in Saudi Arabia, Mr Jarba joined the Syrian National Coalition and worked on refugee relief and later military aid for the rebels.

He is close to Michel Kilo, a Christian opposition campaigner who has spearheaded efforts to garner the support of minority groups fearful of an Islamist takeover.

"I will not rest until I procure the advanced weapons needed to hit back at Assad and his allies ... I give myself one month to achieve what I am intent on doing," Mr Jarba said.

Mr Jarba was speaking in Istanbul after a meeting of the Syrian National Coalition, which has little physical presence in Syria and little influence over militant Islamist brigades that play a major role in the fight against Mr Al Assad's forces.

Troops advanced yesterday into the rebel-held Khalidiya district of central Homs, with shelling intensifying as forces battled for a 10th day in the area, opposition activists said.

State media, meanwhile, reported two car bombs hit a regime-held area in the city.

Mr Jarba donated US$250,000 (Dh918,250) of his own money to support humanitarian relief efforts in Homs after meeting a delegation from the city. Activists who met Mr Jarba told him that the remaining rebellious Sunni neighbourhoods in Homs could fall in days.

More than 90,000 people have been killed since March 2011, making the Syrian revolt the bloodiest of the Arab Spring uprisings against entrenched dictators.

* Reuters with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse