Doha, Asharq Al-Awsat—The decision to offer the opposition the Syrian seat at the Arab League summit taking place this week in Qatar has dominated the agenda of the meeting so far.

Qatar’s ruler, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al–Thani, offered the current leader of the Syrian National Council, Moaz Alkhatib, the Syrian seat at the beginning of the conference, and said that he supported a political solution to the on-going crisis in Syria, which has left over 70,000 people dead in two years of fighting.

However, he also emphasized that any solution should be one that does not return the country to the status quo in place before the uprising against Bashar Al-Assad.

Observers have focused on the presence of Alkhatib because of his announcement on Sunday that he was resigning as leader of the Syrian opposition movement.

His speech to the gathered representatives and heads of state was hailed as “statesmanlike” by many observers, and received a warm reception from opposition activists on social media sites like Twitter, though it did not offer any hints about his decision to resign.

In the speech, he re-stated his desire for a negotiated end to the fighting in Syria, and accused the Assad government of rejecting offers of dialogue.

He also called on the US and its NATO allies to extend air defenses over northern Syria to protect civilians from government airstrikes. At the same time, he opposed any other foreign intervention in the fighting, and called for non-Syrians fighting in the ranks of the opposition to leave Syria, as well as the departure of Russian and Iranian advisers to the Syrian government.

“I have asked Mr Kerry to extend the umbrella of the Patriot missiles to cover the Syrian north and he promised to study the subject . . . we are still waiting for a decision from NATO to protect people’s lives, not to fight but to protect lives,” he said.

The Syrian National Coalition has already announced that it will not accept his resignation, while some delegates at the conference have told reporters that they expect Alkhatib to withdraw it if the organization agrees to broaden its ranks.

The agenda of the meeting has been dominated by the crisis in Syria and the peace talks between the US, the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban, but has also included a pledge from the Emir of Qatar of USD 250 million towards a 1 billion fund to protect the “Arabness” of Jerusalem.

Damascus reacted angrily to the Arab League’s decision to invite the Syrian opposition to represent Syria at the summit. Syria’s ambassador to the Arab League, Youssef Ahmad, accused it of “replacing a completely sovereign legitimate state with an illegitimate non-viable monstrosity”, according to state media.