Militant group claims Syrian TV channel attack

A militant group has claimed responsibility for a raid and bombing of a pro-government Syrian TV channel headquarters last week in which seven people were killed.   

The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which follows jihadist websites, said late on Tuesday that the Al Nusra Front, a militant group, claimed it carried out the June 27 attack in a message posted on Islamist Internet forums.   

SITE said that in the statement posted on June 30, Al Nusra said the raid on Ikhbariya was a reaction to the channel acting as a "striking arm" of President Bashar al-Assad's government.   

"Let no one condemn us for this operation and say it is not proper to attack the media or media people, especially since we had already presented that this lying channel fights and may be even more effective than military power, and it was the one that was glorifying the tyrant day and night," the group said.   
 
It was not possible to verify the claim from the militant group, which was unknown before it claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in Damascus and Aleppo that started in December.

Meanwhile, a meeting of Syria's splintered opposition in Cairo descended into scuffles and fistfights on Tuesday that dealt another blow to Western leaders seeking a unified front against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
   
The meeting failed to resolve many of the differences between the rival Syrian opposition groups, further complicating efforts to find a viable alternative to rule by Assad, whose forces have killed thousands of Syrian civilians and combatants.
   
A Syrian Kurdish group quit the meeting, provoking mayhem and cries of "scandal, scandal" from delegates. Women wept as men traded blows, and staff of the hotel used for the meeting hurriedly removed tables and chairs as the scuffles spread.
   
The outburst lasted only a few minutes, and some said it had been stage managed to get the Kurds on television.
       
Sixteen months into an uprising against Assad, the failure to rally Syria's disparate religious and ethnic groups behind a united leadership will make it more difficult to secure international recognition.

A final statement read by Syrian opposition leader Kamal Al-Labuany, said:
   
"All the attendees of the conference agreed that the political solution has to start by the fall of the regime represented in Bashar Al-Assad and the icons of his power and calls for an immediate halt of violence committed by the Syrian regime."
   
Reading from a one-page statement, he said the opposition groups agreed on the "importance of preserving civil peace and national unity".
      
Opposition leader Haitham al-Manah told Reuters that one of the points of disagreement was over authorities to be granted to a committee to act as a face of the opposition.
   
The divided opposition did discuss in broad terms what their nation should look like after Assad.
   
One of those principles was to have a new Syria governed as a "republican, democratic, civilian, pluralistic system".
   
A document on how to handle the transition from Assad's rule said his Baath party would be dissolved but everyone - provided they did not have "hands stained with blood" - would be allowed to help steer the country.

It also said a meeting should be held in Damascus to create a temporary legislative body and an interim government during the transition. It outlined actions to reform the army and to form a committee to investigate crimes against the Syrian people, such as massacres and political detentions.
 
REUTERS