Syria Today: The Battle for Qusayr Continues

Head of Free Syrian Army, Salim Idriss, appealing for foreign help for the besieged town of Qusayr

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After two weeks, the battle continues for Qusayr, near the Lebanese border and 18 miles from Homs.

Regime forces have been trying to take the town, with State media repeatedly claiming that they have seized most of it. Earlier this week, the Syrian military surrounded Qusayr on all sides, seizing a nearby airbase.

However, on Friday, insurgents established a relief corridor, bringing in hundreds of fighters and supplies.

State media tried to deny the insurgent success, claiming:

Units of the armed forces on Friday foiled an attempt by an armed terrorist groups to infiltrate from the Lebanese territories into al-Sirhaniyeh in al-Qseir in Homs countryside, said a military source.

The source [said] that the army units inflicted heavy losses upon the terrorist group' members, leaving most of them killed and injured. Some terrorists however managed to flee back into Lebanon.

Despite the breakthrough, the head of the Free Syrian Army, Brigadier General Salim Idris, said that his troops were still outgunned and in danger of being overwhelmed. He told Al Jazeera that "the revolution could be lost" without immediate support from foreign countries.

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Insurgent Projects in the North

A 12-minute video from the insurgent group Ahrar al-Sham, boasting of water supply to 50 villages in Raqqa Province:

Video of Ahrar al-Sham's management of main water distribution pump facility for the province:

Opposition Coalition Finally Agrees Expansion

After more than a week of often-divisive discussions in Turkey, the opposition Syrian National Coalition announced late Friday that it had agreed an expansion from 63 to 114 members.

The meeting was originally scheduled to last three days, but was repeatedly extended amid threats of breakdown. The headline dispute was over the expansion, with the Qatar-backed leadership opposing significant increases and Saudi-supported activists in favour.

One of the fights was over the admission of the Democratic Front of veteran activist Michel Kilo --- it wanted 25 seats but was offered only five.

In the agreement on Friday, Kilo's bloc was given 13 places: Bassam al-Malek, Fayez Sahra, Munzir Iqbiq, Hadi al-Bahra, Michel Kilo, Jamal Suleiman, Farah al-Atasi, Ayman al-Aswad, Anwar Badr, Zakaryia Saqqal and Samira Musalema.

The head of the Free Syrian Army will choose 15 members, The Syrian General Revolutionary Council will select 14, one for each of Syria's Governorates.

Three members --- Anis al-Abda, Mohammed al-Daghim and Alia Mansour --- will come from the Syrian National Council, three from local councils --- Noura al-Amin, Safwan al-Jandali and Nazar al-Heraki --- and there will be three independents --- Naghm al-Ghadri, Yassir Salim and Ahmed Aboul Kheir Shokri.

Casualties

The Violations Documentation Center reports that 62,247 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since March 2011, an increase of 134 from Friday. Of the deaths, 48,240 were civilians, a rise of 75 from yesterday.