The leader of the Western- and Gulf Arab-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) has been sacked and replaced by a more experienced field commander.
Col Abd al-Ilah al-Bashir will succeed Brig Gen Salim Idris as chief-of-staff of the FSA’s Supreme Military Council.
A spokesman said the decision was taken due to the “ineffectiveness” of the command and the need to “restructure”.
Over the past year, the SMC lost influence to Islamist rebel groups, some of them linked to al-Qaida.
The change in command comes after a second round of peace talks in Geneva between the Syrian Government and opposition failed to make any significant breakthrough.
US Secretary of State John Kerry blamed President Bashar al-Assad’s representatives for stalling the negotiations and urged Russia to stop supplying Mr al-Assad’s forces with weapons.
The decision to replace Gen Idris was made on Sunday after a meeting of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) in Turkey.
A statement said the move was prompted by the “ineffectiveness of the command in the past few months” and “to provide leadership for military operations”.
