LONDON (Reuters) – A party that controls much of Syria’s Kurdish region on Tuesday rejected the new opposition coalition, highlighting the deep divisions still remaining between the many Syrian armed groups 20 months into the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Saleh Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said he had not been invited to talks in Doha this month in which the Syrian National Coalition was formed, and he labeled the group a proxy of Turkey and Qatar.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain recognized the fledgling Syrian National Coalition on Tuesday, joining France in saying the opposition group was the “sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people”.

The announcement, by Foreign Secretary William Hague, could boost the group’s chances of securing foreign aid and arms as it seeks to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain would damage its fragile economy and risk isolation if it ended its often stormy relationship with the European Union, business leaders said on Monday before critical EU budget talks later this week.

Britain’s main business lobby group urged Prime Minister David Cameron to resist growing “Eurosceptic” calls to cut the island nation’s 40-year ties with a bloc that accounts for half of its trade.

LONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Britain would like to formally
recognise the Syrian opposition’s fledgling coalition but needs
to know more about its plans first, Foreign Secretary William
Hague said on Friday.

The group was formed in Doha at the weekend in an attempt to
unify the fractious movement trying to topple Bashar al-Assad
and secure international recognition and arms.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain wants to reexamine previously abandoned options in looking at ways to end the conflict in Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said on Thursday.

An official declined to elaborate when asked whether those options included reviewing the EU arms embargo on Syria, which forbids sending weapons to the rebels, or imposing a no-fly zone, but said nothing would be ruled out.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain wants to reexamine previously abandoned options in looking at ways to end the conflict in Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said on Thursday.

Asked if these could include such measures as arming the Syrian rebels or creating a no-fly zone, an official from Cameron’s office declined to say which specific options would be reconsidered.

AMMAN, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Syrian rebels fired mortars at
President Bashar al-Assad’s palace in Damascus on Wednesday but
missed, in an attack underlining the growing boldness of forces
fighting to end his family’s 42 years in power.

Residents told Reuters the heavy-calibre shells hit a
neighbouring residential district that is home to members of
Assad’s Alawite sect. State-run media said at least three people
were killed and seven wounded in what it described as a
“terrorist attack”.

AMMAN, Nov 7 (Reuters) – Multiple bomb explosions on
Wednesday hit a hilltop area in Damascus populated by members of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect, marking
escalation of sectarian attacks in a conflict that has deepened
religious Middle East divides.

The attack occurred a day after deadly tit-for-tat attacks
in segregated neighbourhoods of the capital, deepening the
divide between the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam
backed by Iran that has ruled Syria since the 1960s, and Sunnis
leading the 19-month revolt against the Assad family rule.

JEDDAH/AMMAN (Reuters) – Bombs exploded in three districts of the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday, killing and wounding dozens, and gunmen shot dead the brother of the parliament speaker in the latest rebel attack on a figure associated with the ruling elite.

The opposition said at least 100 more people were killed elsewhere in the civil war, and Britain suggested offering President Bashar al-Assad immunity from prosecution as a way of persuading him to leave power.

AMMAN (Reuters) – Britain will begin contacts with Syrian opposition military figures to help unite the fragmented rebel movement to oust President Bashar al-Assad, British officials said on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary William Hague will announce the effort later on Wednesday, the same day Prime Minister David Cameron will meet Syrian refugees in Jordan, the prime minister’s office said.