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Syria’s opposition National Coalition has reversed a decision to fire the Supreme Military Council, amid corruption allegations and in-fighting over the future of Coalition President Ahmad Jarba (pictured).

A statement from the government-in-exile on Thursday night said its head Ahmad Tohme said it would “refer its members to the government’s financial and administration committee for investigation”.

The government-in-exile also said it was firing the Free Syrian Army’s Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Abdul-ilah al-Bashir, who replaced Salim Idriss in March. It called on “revolutionary forces on the ground” to set up a new defence council and restructure commands.

Hours later, the Syrian National Coalition, led by Jarba, said that the “head of the interim government has exceeded his powers” and that it had decided to “instruct the General Council to comment on this abuse of power at its next meeting and to take the appropriate action”.

The next General Council meeting will be in Istanbul from July 4 to 6.

A “senior Coalition official” said, “This crisis reflects the conflict in the coalition and is in a regional context. Qatar supports the government of President Ahmad Tohme and Ahmad Jarba is close to Saudi Arabia.”

The official also insisted Jarba must stand down at the next council meeting because he cannot serve more than two terms and alleged,
“He wants to prepare to keep control. It seems he plans to form a High Council of the Syrian Revolution, a military body which he will chair and will have no relationship with the opposition government.”

The official said the government-in-exile had tried to pre-empt Jarba’s move with the dismissal.

In order to do so, the official said, Jarba would demand a vote of confidence and a new government chief, and Tohme decided to pre-empt the move.


Dozens Wounded by Car Bomb in Douma

Two car bombs injured dozens of people in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Saturday, activists said.

The vehicle exploded in a popular market.

Grand Mufti: Turkish Government Arranged Kidnapping of 2 Archbishops of Aleppo

The Grand Mufti of Syria, Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, accuses the Turkish Government of the abduction of two Archbishops of Aleppo, Yohanna Ibrahim (Syriac Orthodox) and Boulos Yazigi (Greek Orthodox).

The Grand Mufti says Ankara, which has long-standing differences with the bishops, was angered that they encouraged “reconciliation” and the freeing of detainees — so it sent a Chechen group, trained in Turkey, to carry out the kidnapping: