Syrian opposition factions signed a tentative agreement on Sunday, November 11 to create an umbrella organization, paving the way for international diplomatic recognition as well as more funding and improved military aid from foreign capitals, The New York Times reported. After three days of haggling in Doha, Qatar, opposition negotiators agreed to the new coalition and then elected as its president Sheikh Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib, a former imam of the historic Umayyad mosque in Damascus and a respected national figure within Syria. The umbrella organization was designed to subsume the Syrian National Council, a previous attempt at unification that has appeared increasingly marginalized as Syria has descended into civil war. The hope among Western countries is that the new coalition, called the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, can give local opposition councils the legitimacy to bring fighters under their authority.