While in Damascus, Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi also met with representatives of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change – a domestic Syrian opposition coalition that is opposed to violent revolution. Details by Peter Steinbach in Damascus
From the National Council to the National Coalition: Has Syria’s political opposition become a burden on the revolution?
April 14, 2021
Participants in the Riyadh II Expanded Syrian Opposition Meeting, held in the Saudi capital, pose for a photo, 22/10/2017 (AFP)
AMMAN Alongside the struggle against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Syrians have been in a continuous battle since March 2011 to create influential political bodies to represent the revolutionaries.
However, the relations between post-revolution political blocs, assemblies and platforms have been characterized by internal conflicts that reflect the regional and international polarization.
A shaky birth
As protests spread in the spring of 2011, there was “a dire need for this popular mobilization to translate into politics. All those who went out to demonstrate had a desire for political representation for the voices calling for freedom and salvation from tyranny,” Yahya al-Aridi, the spokesman for the Syrian Neg