The opposition Syrian National Coalition has officially confirmed that it will not participate in a proposed international "peace" conference in Geneva next month without a guarantee that President Assad will leave power.
The committee adopted a declaration amid a week-long meeting in Turkey, "The participation of the Syrians in any conference is tied to the presentation of a deadline for a solution and giving the necessary binding international guarantees."
The Free Syrian Army's Chief of Staff, General Salim Idriss, has warned, "If the attacks of Hezbollah against Syrian territory do not stop within 24 hours, we will take all measures to hunt Hezbollah, even in hell."
Idriss continued with the threat to intervene in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, "I will no longer be bound by any commitments I made, if a decision to stop the attacks...is not taken and implemented," said Idriss.
Idriss said, "We are being subjected to a genocide conducted by Hezbollah," and, without giving details of specific operations said he hoped "that everyone will excuse the Free [Syrian] Army" for retaliating.
The principle sticking point involves voting. Existing members of the coalition insist that the inclusion of new members must be based on balloting by existing members only. But this would change little in a monopoly that was made possible by interference from regional countries to begin with, rather than based on consensus among Syrian opposition. The existing members were not chosen by the people to decide whether certain opposition figures should be members or not.
The second issue is the "blocking third", or the veto power held by a third of the members. This idea was advanced by the coalition's secretary general, Mustafa Al Sabbagh, and was clearly meant to maintain the monopoly of the current core group within the coalition.
Hassan argues that this stalemate may cripple the group, and will only fuel the stalemate seen on Syria's battlefields.
On the other hand, The Atlantic's Shadi Hamid argues that the political stalemate can only be solved by progress on the battlefield, and that progress has not happened because the international community is waiting for a unified leadership that will likely never occur:
In the latest deadly spike in violence in Iraq, at least 57 people have been killed and more than 140 wounded in a series of bombings in and around Baghdad.
More than 350 people have been slain so far this month, and more than 700 people were killed in April, the highest monthly toll in almost five years.
Several of the attacks targeted markets and shopping areas in predominantly Shia Muslim areas. Areas struck included Habibiya, near Sadr City in the east of the capital, an open-air market in the al-Maalif area, and the main commercial hub Sadoun Street in central Baghdad.
Deadly explosions were also reported in the largely Shia neighbourhoods of Sabi al-Boor, Bayaa, and Kazimiyah.
In other parts of the country, shootings in the disputed province of Kirkuk killed an anti-al-Qaeda militiaman and a private generator operator, while a police colonel was slain by a roadside bomb in the main northern city of Mosul.
The Syrian Central Bank has said that Iran has opened two lines of credit totaling $4 billion to Damascus and plans on opening up a third.
"Iran continues to support Syria, by opening one line of credit worth a billion dollars to finance the import of different items and another line of credit worth three billion dollars to finance the purchase of petrol and associated products," Central Bank Governor Adib Mayale said.
Mayale said Iran was considering an additional loan of $3 billion to bolster the Syrian economy amid war and international sanctions.
The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke to students at Imam Hossein University --- a military university belonging to the Revolutionary Guards --- said that Iranians should participate in the June 14 Presidential Election and said through this many of the country’s problems will be solved.
Khamenei criticized the U.S., saying that "those Americans who say our election is not free, have not yet closed Guantanamo Bay and are killing many people in Pakistan and Afghanistan."
He added: "Our people should know that the reason Americans are saying these things is because of the importance of the election, therefore the [Iranian] people should create a political epic."
The head of Tehran Criminal Courts, Judge Mohsen Eftekhari, says three defendants --- Presidential advisor Saeed Mortazavi and two senior judges --- have one week to provide the court with their defences.
Eftekhari said, after that, “the jury will decide on the verdict".
Earlier reports had indicated the defence had concluded its response, and the court had 10 days to deliver a decision.
The three men are accused of complicity in the abuse and killing of three post-election protesters at the Kahrizak detention centre after the disputed 2009 Presidential election.
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said that the regime has agreed "in principle to participate in the international conference which is supposed to be convened in Geneva" in June: "We think...that the international conference represents a good opportunity for a political solution to the crisis in Syria."
Muallem, during a sudden visit to Iraq, criticised foreign actors supporting the insurgency: "The regional countries that conspire against Syria are the same that support terrorism in Iraq."
Russian officials said earlier in the week that the Assad regime had agreed to take part in the conference. However, the opposition Syrian National Coalition has said that it wants guarantees that President Assad will step down during a transitional government.
Gunmen and other attackers killed at least eleven people and wounded more than two dozen in attacks on Sunday.
In Kazimiyah district in northern Baghdad, gunmen in a speeding car killed three civilians and wounded another.
In the northern city of Mosul, a car bomb went off at a house early in the morning while a joint army-police unit was conducting door-to-door searches. The blast killed three policemen and one soldier. Twenty people, including four civilians, were wounded.
Attackers gunned down a policeman in his car in in central Mosul, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
In the western province of Anbar, three soldiers were killed and five wounded in two separate attacks by roadside bombs.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 8:48 | 
Bashar al-Assad & Vladimir Putin
Syrian National Coalition: No Part in Conference Without Assad Exit
