CAIRO, Nov 13 (Reuters) – The leader of Syria’s new
opposition coalition called on European states to recognise it
as the legitimate government and provide it with funds to buy
the weapons it needs to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

But Britain and France appeared to set further conditions,
notably for rallying support inside the country, before they
grant full recognition to the Syrian National Coalition. And,
like the United States, Europeans are still reluctant to arm
rebel forces which include anti-Western Islamist militants.

CAIRO, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Syria’s new opposition body sought
Arab and European backing on Tuesday, but Britain and France
seemed to set new conditions for its recognition as an interim
government to take over should President Bashar al-Assad fall.

The Syrian leader has vowed to fight to the death in a
conflict that has already killed an estimated 38,000 people and
risks sucking in other countries in the volatile Middle East.

DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) – Syria’s newly named opposition leader, a soft-spoken cleric backed by Washington and the Gulf Arab states, launched his quest on Monday for international recognition as a government-in-waiting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

In a sign of the danger that the civil war could spread across Syria’s borders, Israeli forces said they fired “direct hits” on Syrian artillery in response to a mortar strike into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) – Syria’s newly named opposition leader, a soft-spoken cleric backed by Washington and the Gulf Arab states, launched his quest on Monday for international recognition of a government-in-waiting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

In a sign of the danger that the 20-month civil war could spread across Syria’s borders, Israeli forces said they fired “direct hits” on Syrian artillery in response to a mortar strike into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) – Syria’s newly named opposition leader, a soft-spoken cleric backed by Washington and the Gulf Arab states, launched his quest on Monday for international recognition of a government-in-waiting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

Mouaz Alkhatib, a former imam of a Damascus mosque, flew to Cairo to seek the Arab League’s blessing for a new assembly, the day after he was unanimously elected to lead it. He made a concerted effort to address the sectarian and ethnic acrimony underlying 20 months of civil war that has killed 38,000 people.

DOHA/CAIRO, Nov 12 (Reuters) – Syria’s newly named
opposition leader, a soft-spoken cleric backed by Washington and
the Gulf Arab states, launched his quest on Monday for
international recognition of a government-in-waiting to topple
President Bashar al-Assad.

Mouaz Alkhatib, a former imam of a Damascus mosque, flew to
Cairo to seek the Arab League’s blessing for a new assembly, the
day after he was unanimously elected to lead it. He made a
concerted effort to address the sectarian and ethnic acrimony
underlying 20 months of civil war that has killed 38,000 people.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Mohamed Talaat didn’t like the fact Christian music was being played at a party to promote interfaith harmony in the Egyptian town of Minya south of Cairo, so together with a group of like-minded Islamist hardliners, he showed up to put a stop to it.

It was simply un-Islamic to broadcast Christian songs, Talaat explained.

“Egypt is Islamic and so we all have to accept Islamic rules to halt any strife,” he said by telephone.

WADI EL-NATRUN, Egypt (Reuters) – The new Coptic Orthodox pope said on Monday that a constitution being drafted by Egypt’s politicians must be inclusive and the church would oppose any text that only addressed one part of the Muslim-majority nation.

Pope Tawadros II, picked on Sunday in a ceremony steeped in the traditions of a church that predates Islam’s arrival in Egypt, also told Reuters that Christians should be more active in seeking to shape Egypt’s politics after last year’s revolt.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox church chose a new pope, Bishop Tawadros, in a sumptuous service on Sunday that Christians hope will lead them through an Islamist-dominated landscape and protect what is the Middle East’s biggest Christian community.

Many Christians in Egypt, who make up about a tenth of the population of 83 million, are worried about political gains made by Islamists since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. They have long complained of discrimination in Muslim-majority Egypt.