Syrian opposition bloc meets to elect new leaders

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition figures are meeting in Turkey to elect a new leadership as President Bashar Assad claims his opponents have failed to overthrow his regime.

In an interview published Thursday in the state-run Al-Thawra newspaper, Assad says the opposition and their Western backers have "exhausted all their tools" in what his government has called a conspiracy against Syria.

The meeting of the Western-backed but deeply fractured Syrian National Coalition in Istanbul is the second attempt in two months by Assad's opponents to unify their ranks.

Sarah Karkour, a spokeswoman for the SNC says that acting leader George Sabra and senior opposition figures Louay Safi and Mustafa Sabbagh are topping the list of candidates for the new leadership.

More than 93,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war.