Sunni Jihadists are now a formidable fighting force on the ground and Syria is close to all-out sectarian war that could destabilise Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
"Alkhatib is a dynamic progressive Islamist, popular in Damascus and the rest of Syria. He is not a trigger-happy Jihadist and he can play a role in containing the extremist groups," said Mazen Adi, a prominent human rights defender and politician who worked with Alkhatib before the revolt.
