* Assad's divided foes forge new coalition, seek recognition
* Jets strike near Turkey; Israel, Syria trade fire in Golan
* Coalition's leader is reformist Muslim preacher
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.
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.
Western and Arab enemies of Assad hope the creation of a new
Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary
Forces can finally unify a fractious and ineffective opposition.
Mouaz Alkhatib, a former imam of a Damascus mosque, flew to
Cairo to seek the Arab League's blessing for the 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.
"We demand freedom for every Sunni, Alawi, Ismaili,
Christian, Druze, Assyrian ... and rights for all parts of the
harmonious Syrian people," he said, calling on Syrian soldiers
to desert and all sects to unite.
His assembly was recognised by the six Sunni Muslim-ruled
kingdoms of the Gulf Cooperation Council as the "legitimate
representative of the Syrian people". Washington said it would
back it "as it charts a course toward the end of Assad's bloody
rule and the start of the peaceful, just, democratic future".
Shooting across the line that divides Syria from the
Israeli-occupied Golan was just the latest spillover of violence
that has alarmed neighbours including Turkey and Lebanon.
Israeli military sources said Israel hit Syrian army mobile
artillery on Monday, the second straight day it fired back in
retaliation for what it said were stray mortars hitting Golan.
"We will not allow our borders to be breached or our
citizens to be fired at," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
said. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967.
Although the two countries have not fought over the territory
since 1973, they are still officially at war.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called on Israel and
Syria to halt firing.
In the north, where fighting has sent thousands of Syrian
refugees fleeing into Turkey, a Reuters correspondent saw Syrian
jets and helicopters bomb Ras al-Ain, a border town taken by
rebels last week. Bombs landed just metres from the frontier,
sending up plumes of black smoke.
Opposition groups said 12-16 people died in the air strikes.
Turkey said it did not appear that the planes had entered its
air space. It is discussing with NATO allies deploying Patriot
air defence missiles on the border.
WRANGLING
Rebels and opposition politicians formed Alkhatib's new
opposition coalition after days of wrangling in Qatar under
intense U.S. and Qatari pressure.
Backers hope the new body will give rebels inside Syria more
clout and reassure religious and ethnic minorities, after a
Syrian National Council (SNC) made up mainly of exiled Islamists
proved ineffective as the main opposition voice.
Western and Arab opponents of Assad want the coalition to
attract support from minority sects who had been alienated from
the opposition by the prominence of well-organised Sunnis from
the Muslim Brotherhood. They also hope to rein in Islamist
fighters, some of whom they believe are linked to al Qaeda.
"Alkhatib is a dynamic, progressive Islamist, popular in
Damascus and the rest of Syria," said Mazen Adi, a prominent
Syrian human rights defender who worked with Alkhatib before the
revolt. "He is not a trigger-happy Jihadist, and he can play a
role in containing the extremist groups."
Alkhatib met Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby before the
gathering of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. European foreign
ministers are due to join them on Tuesday.
"The most important thing that could come out from
(Monday's) meeting is a form of recognition for the new Syrian
council alliance that was established in Doha," said one Arab
diplomat, speaking before the talks on condition of anonymity.
A League official said any recognition of the opposition
would probably avoid describing it as the sole legitimate
representative of the Syrian people, because some Arab states
were still reluctant to jettison Assad.
"There are still Arab states like Iraq and Lebanon that are
not fully supportive of the Syrian revolt," the official said,
also on condition he not be identified.
Alkhatib, in his early 50s, was jailed several times for
criticising Assad before fleeing into exile this year. He has
long promoted a liberal Islam tolerant of Syria's Christian,
Alawite and other minorities, activists say.
Hassan Hassan, a Syrian commentator based in the United Arab
Emirates, said Alkhatib, as an independent cleric, would be a
counterweight to growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"He's been active for a long time, campaigning against the
idea of retribution and extremism. He talks about liberty and
freedom for the masses. So he is perceived as a credible
figure," Hassan said.
Russia, which with China has foiled U.N. action on Syria and
views Assad's opponents as pawns of the West, urged the new body
to negotiate and to reject outside meddling.
Asked if China recognised the new coalition, Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called on all parties to initiate "a
political transition process guided by the Syrian people".
It remains to be seen whether the Coalition can succeed
where the exiled SNC failed in overcoming mutual suspicion and
in-fighting that weakened the opposition.
"This is a significant step forward, because they finally
seem to be forging a more broadly-based platform that includes
the SNC but without the SNC taking the lion's share," said
Salman Shaikh, director of the Doha Brookings Center think tank.