Syrian National Council

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Syrian National Council

المجلس الوطني السوري Al-Majlis al-Waṭanī as-Sūri
Abbreviation	SNC
Formation	23 August 2011 (13 years ago) (2011-08-23)
Purpose	Opposition to the government of Ba'athist Syria
Headquarters	Istanbul, Turkey
Region served	Syria
Membership	420 members (since 1 November 2012)
Official language	Arabic
Chairperson	Ahmad Jarba
Executive Board	Abdulbaset Sieda Mohamad Faruq Tayfur Ahmad Ramadan Hisham Marwah Salem al-Musallat Hussein al-Said Abdulahad Astepho Jamal al-Wared Nazir al-Hakim Khaled al-Saleh
Spokesperson	Radwan Ziadeh
Website	www.syriancouncil.org

Politics of Syrian opposition
Symbols Flag Coat of arms
Constitution Antalya conference (2011) Human rights
Executive Syrian Interim Government Prime Minister: Abdurrahman Mustafa President: Hadi al-Bahra
Legislature Syrian National Coalition Syrian National Council National Coordination Committee
Administrative divisions Capital Governorates Districts
Political parties Syrian National Coalition Syrian National Council National Coordination Committee
Foreign relations HNC Arab League membership
Other countries
v t e

The Syrian National Council (SNC),^[a] sometimes known as the Syrian National Transitional Council or the National Council of Syria,^[1][2] is a Syrian opposition coalition, based in Istanbul, Turkey, formed in August 2011 during the Syrian civil uprising (which escalated into civil war) against the government of Bashar al-Assad.^[3][4]

Initially, the council denied seeking to play the role of a government in exile,^[5] but this changed a few months later when violence in Syria intensified.^[6][7][8] The Syrian National Council sought the end of Bashar al-Assad's rule and the establishment of a modern, civil, democratic state. The SNC National Charter lists human rights, judicial independence, press freedom, democracy and political pluralism as its guiding principles.^[9] In 2011 and 2012, the Council was recognized by several United Nations member states and by the European Union as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. However, it remained reluctant to form a government, whose authority would have superseded its own. It also had no presence on the ground in Syria, and played no role in military operations, which weakened its legitimacy.^[10]

In November 2012, the Syrian National Council agreed to unify with several other opposition groups to form the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, commonly named the Syrian National Coalition.^[11][12][13]

The Syrian National Council withdrew from the Syrian National Coalition on 20 January 2014 in protest at the decision of the coalition to attend the Geneva II Conference on Syria.^[14][15] The Coalition eventually supplanted the Council as the main representative body of the opposition.^[10]

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