Syrian opposition leader steps down; Israeli troops face fire from Syria

"I promised the Syrian people and God to resign if matters reach some red lines," he said in a statement announcing his resignation as head of the Syrian National Coalition.

He stepped down, he said, "so I could work with more freedom unavailable to me within the official position of the organization."

Last week, a Syrian opposition alliance elected Ghassan Hitto -- who had studied and lived in the United States -- to lead the opposition's interim government.

In a statement about the resignation, Mohammed Ali, a spokesman for al-Khatib, said, "For two years now we've been slaughtered. We keep hearing that we will get arms, then that we won't get arms. Everyone is trading in the Syrian crisis for their own interest and agenda. The international community is doing nothing."

Israeli troops under fire

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said its troops came under fire Sunday in the Golan Heights from the Syrian side -- and soldiers returned fire.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon blamed the Syrian military for the incident.

"We view very harshly the fire opened last night and this morning, from the direction of Syria on an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) force in Israeli territory," Yaalon said. "We will not allow the Syrian army or any other factor to violate Israeli's sovereignty by firing into our territory."

Syria's opposition network, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, said rebels were clashing with the Syrian army near the Golan Heights border at the time.

Fighting in the area has intensified in recent days as rebels backed by Nusra Front fighters gain territory.

The radical Islamist al-Nusra Front has emerged as one of the most effective groups in the Syrian resistance, drawing on foreign fighters with combat experience in Iraq and elsewhere.

In December, the U.S. State Department moved to blacklist the rebel group as a foreign terror organization linked to al Qaeda in Iraq.

Source: BBC News.