Syria's main exiled opposition alliance Tuesday elected eight ministers to an interim government to administer rebel-held territories, members said, as discussions continued on three portfolios.
On the fourth day of its meeting in Istanbul, the opposition National Coalition was still discussing who would head the interior, health and education ministries under interim rebel prime minister Ahmed Tomeh, coalition member Rima Fleihan told dpa.
The coalition did not immediately release names of the elected ministers, who were voted in hours after the group agreed to attend a planned Russian- and US-backed peace conference as long as there was no role for President Bashar al-Assad in any transitional authority.
Tomeh, a moderate Islamist, has been struggling to agree an interim government since the fractious opposition group named him prime minister in September.
In neighbouring Lebanon, a pro-Syrian Sunni Muslim cleric was shot dead in the northern city of Tripoli, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Sheikh Saad al-Din Ghie, a member of the Islamic Labour Front which is close to al-Assad ally Hezbollah, was killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle, the report said.
The northern Lebanese city has seen intensified tension and regular firefights between al-Assad supporters and opponents since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.