Syrian opposition forms cabinet as Syrian Kurds declare transitional autonomous government

The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition opposition grouping named a provisional government on Tuesday for rebel-held areas after three days of heated discussions in Istanbul, and despite Western opposition, coalition members said.    

The United States and other Western backers of the coalition are hoping that proposed peace negotiations in Geneva will produce an interim administration as a way out of the civil war, which began in 2011.    

The West fears that by pre-empting that with a de facto cabinet, the opposition will hamper progress. However, although the SNC serves as a channel for Western support for the rebels, its leaders are all outside Syria and their influence on the disparate rebel groupings is patchy at best.

This announcement comes after discussions were made in the majority Kurdish town of Qamishli and four months after Kurdish leaders said they planned to form the temporary government.

On the field

Activists said clashes have flared up between Syrian troops and rebels on the southern outskirts of Damascus as part of a weeks-long government push to advance on opposition-held areas.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says fighting is underway around the rebel-held Hejeira suburb on Tuesday. 

The Observatory also says clashes are taking place near the government-controlled Sayyida Zainab neighborhood, known for a famous Shiite shrine.

The Observatory and a spokeswoman for a Damascus Syrian rebel council says Shiite fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are fighting alongside Syrian government forces in the two neighborhoods.

The spokeswoman spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for her safety.

Government troops and pro-Assad fighters have seized four other nearby neighborhoods in recent weeks.

REUTERS/AP