The meeting comes one day after Syrian opposition forces launched on Saturday what is considered to be a major assault on a northern airbase used to deploy the regime with air power.

The Doha meeting is seen as the most serious push yet to form a united front in which many figures from the Syrian opposition are taking part to help end the 20-month ciris that has killed over 33,000 people.

Talks have emerged about a new plan to reshape the opposition into a representative leadership, as U.S. officials have expressed disappointment with the SNC’s inability to create a consistent plan and its lack of agreement and cooperation with different internal groups.

But there are serious doubts whether the split and ideologically different factions can come together and create a unified front in which the international community can cooperate with.

Dissident Riad Seif is apparently being suggested by the US as the head of the new government in exile.

Seif was among more than 20 opposition leaders who gathered in Jordan on Thursday to hammer out proposals for a new leadership, according to BBC.

The key subject is whether the main political opposition group, the Syrian National Council, which is made up of academics and Syrian exiles, will accept a U.S.-backed offer to set up a new 50-member leadership team with more representatives from inside Syria.

Under the new plan, called the Syrian National Initiative, the new leadership would also include representatives of the rebels’ Free Syrian army, political groups and local councils in Syria, Al Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile the attack on the Taftanaz base on saturday, from where helicopter gunships raid opposition positions and rebel-held areas, comes after regime forces this week launched an unprecedented wave of air strikes in a bid to reverse rebel gains, according to Al Arabiya.


The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said an operation had begun “to liberate the Taftanaz airbase.”

“I welcome the announcement that the next group of 400 residents are willing to commence the move from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya immediately after the Eid holiday,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Martin Kobler, said in a news release issued by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), which he also heads.

A Muslim holiday marking the end of the month of fasting known as Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr is observed on Monday in various countries around the world.

In line with a memorandum of understanding signed in December by the UN and the Iraqi Government, some two-thirds of the residents, or nearly 2,000 people, have been relocated from Camp Ashraf – now known as Camp New Iraq – to a temporary transit location near Baghdad, known as Camp Hurriya, where a process to determine refugee status is being carried out by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Close to 1,300 individuals – Iranian exiles, many of whom are members of a group known as the People’s Mojahedeen of Iran – are still awaiting transfer from Camp Ashraf to the transit centre.

“I request the Government of Iraq to be generous with regard to the humanitarian needs of the residents,” Kobler said. “I also reiterate my appeal to Member States to accept the residents for resettlement in their countries.”

In addition to Kobler, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also previously urged all parties to avoid violence and work together to peacefully conclude the transfer of the remaining Iranian exiles.

The UNAMI news release also noted that there has been continuous progress in efforts to improve the living conditions in Camp Hurriya.

“The United Nations continues to support a peaceful solution to the issue of Camp Ashraf, continues to monitor the relocation process, and provides 24/7 monitoring in Camp Hurriya,” the Mision stated, adding that it calls upon the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf to “also start preparations for additional convoys to Campy Hurriya, in order to peacefully complete the relocation process.”