Europe should recognize a Syrian opposition coalition as a provisional government, enabling it to seek weapons for the fight against President Bashar al-Assad, the new body's leader said on Tuesday, November 13, according to Reuters.

Mouaz Alkhatib, a moderate Sunni Muslim cleric who fled to Cairo in July after repeated detentions by Syrian secret police, was elected on Sunday to head the coalition forged in Qatar last week to try to create a more coherent, inclusive opposition.

"I request the European states to recognize the coalition politically as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and to give it financial support," Alkhatib, 52, told Reuters in a telephone interview in the Egyptian capital.

"When we get the political recognition, this will make the coalition act as a government and hence acquire weapons and this will solve our problems," he said.

Arab and European foreign ministers were meeting in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss how to help the opposition assembly, which received tentative Arab League endorsement the day before. Six Gulf Arab states have recognized the new body as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and it has won statements of support, but not full recognition, from the United States, European states and the Arab League.

"I understand that more recognition will come in future," Alkhatib said. "The coalition is still very new and ... nations need to see its work on the ground .... before reacting to it."

He called for political, financial, humanitarian and military support to help end four decades of Assad family rule.