Clashes continue in Syria as Syrian coalition names envoy to France -...

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Syria's new opposition chief Mouaz al-Khatib met on Saturday with the French President, the first Western country to recognize the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces group as the sole representative of the Syrian people.

In this context, Hollande said that "the Coalition will have its own ambassador in Paris."

“All Syrian parties should be represented in the future cabinet that will be formed by the opposition,” he added.

On the other hand, a Turkish cameraman captured by Syrian forces while covering fighting in the city of Aleppo in August has been released and would return to Turkey, a delegation who negotiated his freedom with Syrian President Bashar Assad told Turkish media on Saturday.

Cameraman Cuneyt Unal and reporter Bashar Fahmi a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian origin had been missing since August. They were believed to have been captured by Syrian government forces. Both were working for the US-based Alhurra TV.

This as the Saudi Foreign Minister Soud al-Faisal met with the President of the Syrian National Council George Sabra in Riyadh and discussed the latest developments on the Syrian scene.

In turn, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan stressed Saturday from Cairo that the “illegitimate” regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad “is doomed to defeat” in the face of the protest movements which turned into a violent conflict.

On the filed:

Rebels captured an airport used by Syria's military near the Iraqi border on Saturday, activists said, a move which they said would allow them to maintain their hold on the recently seized border town of Albu Kamal.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces have responded by shelling the airport with fighter jets, said a local activist Ziad al-Amir.

Video published by rebel groups showed fighters patrolling a dusty desert air base in Syria's Deir al-Zor province. Plumes of grey smoke rose from some low concrete buildings as fighters examined several abandoned tanks.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that clashes erupted on Saturday morning between Syrian rebels and regime forces after the explosion of a car bomb that targeted a military base in Aleppo.

The observatory said in a statement that 119 were reported dead on Friday in different Syrian regions, adding that Reef Damascus is being shelled by regime airplanes.

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LBCI/AP/REUTERS