Syrian rebels reject new plan

BEIRUT – Syria’s main opposition groups rejected on Sunday a new international plan that calls for a transitional government because the compromise agreement did not bar President Bashar Assad from participating.

Their reaction held out little hope for an end to more than 15 months of carnage.

World powers at a conference in Geneva on Saturday accepted a U.N.-brokered plan calling for creation of a transitional national unity government with full executive powers in Syria. But at Russia’s insistence, the compromise agreement left the door open to Assad being part of the interim administration. It could also include members of Assad’s government and the opposition and other groups. The transitional government would oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.

However Syria’s fragmented opposition has long opposed any solution that involved negotiating with Assad or allowing him to cling to power.

Bassma Kodmani, a Paris-based spokeswoman for the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, said the agreement is “ambiguous” and lacks a mechanism or timetable for implementation. She said there were some positive elements in the plan, which implies that all members of the Security Council were in agreement that the transition period must not be led by Assad. But she said this needs to be more explicit. “We cannot say that there is any positive outcome today,” Kodmani said.

The regime did not react to the plan. But Assad has repeatedly said his government will not accept any non-Syrian model of governance.