Report: Al-Khatib may reverse resignation

DAMASCUS, Syria, March 27 (UPI) -- Moaz al-Khatib, a key opposition figure in Syria's civil war, could rescind his resignation as leader of the Syrian National Coalition, activists said.

A former leader of the Syrian National Council said Khatib has "not closed the door" to staying on as leader of the opposition's main umbrella coalition, The Guardian reported Wednesday.

Other opposition officials said they expected Khatib to reverse his decision to leave the post after he had expressed frustration of appealing to the international community for help in ending the nation's civil war.

On Wednesday, Khatib participated in a ceremony marking the reopening of the Syrian Embassy in Doha, Qatar, under opposition control. He was in Doha for the Arab League summit, heading the Syrian delegation.

Officials from President Bashar Assad's regime criticized the Arab League's decision to invite the Syrian opposition to represent Syria at the summit. Syria's membership was suspended in November 2011.

Opposition leaders said they must expand representation of the national coalition to take in more Syrians, including more women and members of minorities, especially Alawites, which is Assad's sect, The Guardian reported. The opposition also wants to blunt charges that it is dominated by exiles who are out of touch with events in their homeland.

In Damascus Wednesday, mortar fire, car bombings and other attacks resulted in multiple deaths and injuries in Damascus, state-run media reported.

Syrian Arab News Agency said mortar shells fired in Baramkeh area of the city landed near the news agency's building and on several schools.

The attack on the SANA facility killed four people and wounded several others.

State media reported a child died when a girls' school was shelled. SANA said four people were injured by mortar fire on two other schools in the area.

State media said terrorists were responsible for the shelling. "Terrorist" is used by the Syrian government to describe rebel or opposition forces.

An official told SANA mortar shells fell on an obstetrics hospital near Dinar Mosque, as well the campus of a law university, killing and wounding an unknown number of people.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-filled vehicle in a residential area of Damascus, killing two people, wounding two others and causing damage along the street, SANA said.

SANA also reported a car bomb went off near a schoolbook dispensary in Bab Msalla area in Damascus, causing material damage but no injuries or deaths.