SNC Hopes Syrian Crisis Would Top Obama's Agenda

The main opposition Syrian National Council voiced hope on Wednesday that resolving the conflict in Syria would figure at the top of re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama's agenda.

"We hope President Obama places Syria among the priorities in his foreign policy to put an end to the crisis and achieve the aspirations of the Syrian people to choose their own government and their own president, just like the American people did," leading SNC member Radwan Ziadeh told Agence France Presse.

Obama beat Republican candidate Mitt Romney in elections on Tuesday to win a second four-year term as president.

Relations have recently soured between Obama's government and the SNC, which has sought to be the interlocutor between the international community and forces opposed to President Bashar Assad's regime.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the bloc unrepresentative of opposition forces on the ground and said it "can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition."

The SNC hit back at U.S. criticism last Friday, accusing Washington of undermining the revolt and "sowing the seeds of division."

"We hope that the new administration, whether or not Clinton stays, would work on helping the Syrian opposition re-organise its ranks and form a transitional government in liberated territories," said Ziadeh.

SNC chief Abdel Basset Sayda, meanwhile, told AFP he hopes the U.S.. administration would now "address the Syrian crisis with seriousness and responsibility in order to end the massacres and destruction.

"We hope the coming period will be one of serious cooperation with the American side," he said.

The main Syrian opposition bloc, under U.S. pressure to reshape into a widely representative government-in-exile, agreed on Monday at meetings in the Qatari capital to broaden its structure to accommodate 13 other groups.

Syria's opposition repeatedly accuses world powers, notably the United States, of failing to act to end the bloodshed.

The opposition meeting is expected to discuss an initiative by leading dissident Riad Seif, which seems to enjoy U.S. support but has encountered reservations from some SNC members, to unite all anti-Assad Syrian groups.

The initiative will top the agenda of a broader meeting on Thursday called by host Qatar and the Arab League.

An SNC delegation late on Tuesday met U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Beth Jones and Robert Ford, the American ambassador to Syria who left the country a year ago.

"The talks were good," Sayda said, without elaborating.

SNC spokesman George Sabra said that U.S. officials spoke of the need to "form a unified Syrian opposition" but insisted on their refusal to "provide arms" to the rebels.