Twin blasts strike southern Syrian city

A Syrian activist group says two car bomb attacks in southern Syria have killed at least 20 Syrian security force members.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says two bombs exploded minutes apart Saturday when the cars pulled up separately into a military camp in Deraa.

Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad is insisting that he still has the support of the Syrian people and army, even as violence rages on and reports have emerged that more of his military officers defected to Turkey.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) has elected George Sabra, a leading secular Christian opposition figure, for a six-month term as its leader following discussions in Doha, Qatar.

Sabra was one of two candidates that the SNC’s executive council chose from in a ballot counted in front of reporters and council members. In his first statement as SNC chief, Sabra on Friday vowed to “work with other components of the Syrian opposition to accelerate the fall of [President Bashar al-Assad’s] criminal regime”.

The SNC has been vying to keep its leading role in the conflict and has come under US pressure to unify with other groups opposed to Assad.

Farouq Tayfour, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected his vice president.

Earlier on Friday, the umbrella group elected 11 members to sit on its executive committee, having already elected a 41-member secretariat.

Sabra, born in Qatana in the Damascus Suburbs governorate, is a leftist opposition figure and a leading member of the Syrian Democratic People