Key Syrian Rebel Groups Abandon Exile Leaders (to go with Al Qaeda affiliate & an "Islamic frame")
By Ben Hubbard & Michael L. Gordon, New York Times, Sept. 25/26, 2013

BEIRUT, Lebanon — As diplomats at the United Nations push for a peace conference to end Syria’s civil war, a collection of some of the country’s most powerful rebel groups have publicly abandoned the opposition’s political leaders, casting their lot with an affiliate of Al Qaeda.

As support for the Western-backed leadership has dwindled, a second, more extreme Al Qaeda group has carved out footholds across parts of Syria, frequently clashing with mainline rebels who accuse it of making the establishment of an Islamic state a priority over the fight to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The fractured nature of the opposition, the rising radical Islamist character of some rebel fighters, and the increasing complexity of Syria’s battle lines have left the exile leadership with diminished clout inside the country and have raised the question of whether it could hold up its end of any agreement reached to end the war.

The deep differences between many of those fighting in Syria and the political leaders who have represented the opposition abroad spilled into the open late Tuesday, when 11 rebel groups issued a statement declaring that the opposition could be represented only by people who have “lived their troubles and shared in what they have sacrificed.”

Distancing themselves from the exile opposition’s call for a democratic, civil government to replace Mr. Assad, they called on all military and civilian groups in Syria to “unify in a clear Islamic frame.” Those that signed the statement included three groups aligned with the Western-backed opposition’s Supreme Military Council [....]

Syria resolution just passed unanimously:

Security Council OKs Syria resolution, warns of consequences
From Nick Paton Walsh and Elise Labott, CNN
updated 9:47 PM EDT, September 27, 2013

Security Council to Syria combatants: Let in humanitarian aid, fast
The UN Security Council on Wednesday moved to formally urge all sides in Syria's civil war to let humanitarian aid flow freely into the country. International relief for Syria has been sparse, and Western nations say the Assad regime has deliberately blocked it.

By Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor, October 2, 2013

After nearly three years of stalemate, the United Nations Security Council has acted on Syria for the second time in just a few days – a move that suggests the road to international action on the deadly civil war there may be opening up.The council on Wednesday voted unanimously to urge all combatants to allow humanitarian aid to flow freely into the country, and it asked the government of Bashar al-Assad specifically to “lift bureaucratic impediments and other obstacles” to international relief aid and workers.

Wednesday’s approval of a council “presidential statement” follows adoption Friday night of a Security Council resolution on implementation of an ambitious international plan under which Syria is to give up all of its chemical weapons [....]