SYRIAN opposition leaders chose Western-educated technocrat Ghassan Hitto as provisional prime minister in what they hope will be the first step to fill a power vacuum arising from a two-year-long revolt against President Bashar Assad.

    At a meeting of the Syrian National Coalition in the Turkish city of Istanbul that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday, Hitto received 35 votes of around 50 cast by coalition members.

    The vote came after about 14 hours of closed-door consultations among 63 coalition members, with some describing Hitto as a consensus candidate pleasing both the opposition’s Islamist and liberal factions.

    Other coalition members, however, withdrew from the consultations before the vote could take place, reflecting divisions within the opposition.

    When the voting finally took place, members placed their ballots in a transparent box in the conference hall where the much-awaited meeting took place.

    “This is a transparent, democratic vote,” said Coalition leader Mouaz al-Khatib.

    After the election, the American-educated IT manager and Islamic activist outlined his plans at a news conference.

    He said his top priority is to use all conceivable means to topple the Assad regime, and to provide basic necessities and services to offer a dignified life to people in Syria.

    The 50-year-old said the government would operate “in liberated areas” and make restoring law and order a priority, as well as reactivating schools and government departments.

    The new opposition prime minister is working on creating an interim government, which he says will operate inside rebel-controlled areas of Syria.

    Hitto promised the new government would be committed to defending the diverse social fabric of Syria. He is also looking to the international community for official recognition as the legitimate authority for Syria.

    “I call on the international community to live up to its responsibilities,” he said, “starting with granting the interim government of its seat in the United Nations and other international organizations, whereby the interim government can take control of Syria’s embassies.”

    Hours after his appointment, Syria’s government and rebels accused each other of a deadly chemical attack near the northern city of Aleppo.

    If confirmed, it would be the first use of such arms in the conflict, in a region that the opposition is hoping to use as a launchpad to deliver services to large swathes of the country no longer controlled by Assad.

    Hitto was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood and opposition coalition Secretary General Mustafa Sabbagh, who has strong links with Gulf Arab states and has emerged as a kingmaker, according to sources.

    Because of the domination of Islamists in the coalition, the West has been lukewarm about forming an opposition government; instead, the main outside push for the idea has come from Qatar, according to diplomats and sources in the opposition.

    The Western and Gulf-backed coalition was formed last year as an umbrella group of the opposition, but it has little control over the hundreds of rebel brigades fighting Assad.

    More than 100 countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Turkey have recognized the opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

    The United States on Tuesday welcomed the election of Hitto, the long-time Texas resident as the Syrian rebel prime minister, voicing hopes he can foster “unity and cohesion among the opposition.”

    U.S. officials “know and respect” Hitto from his work with the Syrian coalition on humanitarian efforts in Syria, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

    Citing “privacy concerns,” she refused to confirm Hitto was a U.S. citizen, however, saying only that “he spent about 25 years in Texas” and was educated at Purdue University in Indiana.

    “This is an individual who, out of concern for the Syrian people, left a very successful life in Texas to go and work on humanitarian relief for the people of his home country,” Nuland said.

    “We got to know him when he went back to Turkey and started leading the Syrian opposition’s direct relief effort and most recently as head of the coalition’s assistance,” she said.

    German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, whose country is a major force in Western efforts to increase humanitarian aid to rebel-held areas, said Hitto’s appointment would improve the chances of rebuilding areas not under Syrian government control.

    But Russia, the major arms supplier to Assad’s forces along with Iran, said the move was counterproductive.

    “The decision taken in Istanbul may only aggravate internal instability in Syria. It adds to prospects of a breakup of the country,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    Hitto was born in Damascus, the Syrian capital. Little known in his birth country, Hitto has lived in the United States for more than two decades, most recently in Texas. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

    He is married to Suzanne Hitto and they have four children. One of his sons, Obaida, has worked for the opposition in Syria and was hurt in a bombing there. Ghassan Hitto supports the efforts of his son, who had been intent on going to law school but decided to help families in Syria.

    “My son Obaida consulted me at the beginning of the revolution, asking me to allow him to enter Syria to participate in the relief and first-aid work. With the difficulty of this situation, I agreed without hesitation.”

    His wife teaches English at the Brighter Horizons Academy and three of his children are graduates. The academy said that Hitto’s “management and leadership skills” helped the Islamic community fostered their successes.

    Hitto has worked in the communications sector in the United States. As the Arab Spring unfolded two years ago, Hitto threw himself into Syrian activism. He was a founder of the Syrian American Council, the Coalition of Free Syria and the Shaam Relief Foundation.

    When he visited Syria, he got involved with the opposition Syrian National Coalition and became the opposition’s humanitarian aid commissioner, charged with allocating and distributing relief in the areas seized from the Assad government, Shaam Relief said.

    Hitto will have to obtain funding of at least US$500 million a month for an alternative administration to deliver services, reopen schools and pay public employees in regions where central authority had unraveled, a coalition official said.

    “We now have a chance. At least a competent person has been chosen and he can start. If we had delayed naming a premier any longer it would have been too late,” said the official.

    (SD-Agencies)