Syrian Coalition To Name Ambassador To France

The French president says that Syria's opposition coalition will appoint an ambassador to France.

Francois Hollande made the announcement following a meeting with the head of the Syrian National Coalition, Mouaz Alkhatib, in Paris.

Alkhatib said the new envoy will be academic Mounzir Makhous.

Makhous studied in the former Soviet Union and has been living for years in exile between France and Algeria.

France is the only Western country to have formally recognized the new opposition umbrella group as the representative of the Syrian people.

Paris is one of the harshest critics of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose military crackdown on an uprising against his rule has killed 38,000 people, according to activists.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa