Syria’s main opposition group in exile elected a left-wing veteran dissident born into a Christian family as its new president on Friday, a choice that could help counter Western concerns about possible Islamist influence over the group.
George Sabra, a Communist-turned-social-democrat and a former high-school teacher who once wrote for the Arabic version of Sesame Street, said his election as head of the Syrian National Council (SNC) is proof that Syrians are not beholden to sectarianism.
“This day is a victory of the Syrian people to prove all over the world the reality of the Syrians ... as young people shouted in the streets: ‘Syrian people are one, one, one,’” he said moments after his victory was announced at a conference in Doha, Qatar.
Sabra’s election came on the eve of a crucial decision for the SNC.
The Istanbul-based group, widely seen as out of touch with activists fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was to decide yesterday whether to join a broader opposition leadership, an idea promoted by Western and Arab backers of those trying to oust al-Assad.
Under the plan, the new group would form a transitional government in rebel-held areas of Syria and presumably serve as a conduit for foreign aid to the opposition. The rebels’ Western backers have declined to send weapons to the rebels, for fear they will fall into the wrong hands.
Syria’s opposition says it needs weapons to break the military stalemate in Syria and defeat al-Assad.
Asked on Friday what he wants from the international community, Sabra said: “Weapons, weapons, weapons.”
Meanwhile, SNC members have expressed reservations about the new leadership group, fearing that the SNC’s influence would be diluted. The SNC, still the largest political opposition group, would get only about one third of about 60 seats in the new group to make room for activists inside Syria.
The SNC was to give its answer on Friday, but asked for more time after its own leadership elections dragged on and divisions arose among the members over whether to join the internationally backed initiative.
The SNC had promised its Qatari hosts and the author of the new plan, Syrian dissident Riad Seif, to decide quickly whether to accept the idea in principle. However, Sabra suggested on Friday that negotiations over an acceptable formula could continue beyond the weekend.
“The problem is, there is no answer by ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” said Sabra, a 65-year-old father of three.
“This is politics,” he added with a laugh.
The gray-haired Sabra said earlier this week that he and Seif are longtime friends and even shared a jail cell at one point.
Sabra, a veteran dissident and leftist activist, said he was jailed for eight years starting in 1987 and for two brief stretches in the summer and fall of last year, under al-Assad and his father and predecessor Hafez al-A-ssad.
He said he was a leading member of Syria’s Communist Party, but in 2005 his group became social democrat. Sabra left Syria several months after the uprising against al-Assad erupted in March last year and moved to Paris.
Sabra said he is a former geography teacher and writer for children’s television, including for the Arabic version of Sesame Street produced in Kuwait.
The SNC’s new vice president chosen on Friday was Mohammed Farouk Taifur, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a region-wide Islamist movement that has risen to power in several countries in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings. Sabra’s won the top spot against difficult odds.
On Thursday, he failed to win a place in the 41-member general secretariat, the body that chooses the president.
On Friday, Sabra was appointed to the secretariat retroactively after a member resigned to make room for him.
Sabra was president by 28 out of 41 votes, replacing Abdelbaset Sieda, a representative of Syria’s Kurdish community.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was