Istanbul , Turkey ( CNN ) -- Rival dissident army officers are claiming to lead the increasingly armed rebellion within Syria , exposing rifts within the opposition . In an interview by telephone with CNN , Maj. Mahar Naimi introduced himself as a spokesman for the `` Higher Military Council , '' a newly formed organization that now claimed to lead armed defectors within Syria . `` This council represents the people fighting in Syria , '' Naimi said . He added that the council was led by Gen. Mustafa Sheikh , an officer who defected from the Syrian military . But Naimi 's claim was quickly rejected by another defecting officer , Col. Riad al Assad , who spent much of the last year claiming to lead a `` Free Syrian Army '' of rebel soldiers from a refugee camp on the Turkish border with Syria . `` This man represents himself , '' Assad said in reference to Sheikh . `` He has nothing to do with the Free Syrian Army ... those people are representing themselves and do not represent the revolution and the Free Syrian Army . They do n't represent anybody . '' Assad spoke to CNN by telephone from the Turkish border region . `` This is a conflict for leadership , which happens in all organizations and political parties , '' explained a Turkish diplomat , who spoke to CNN following diplomatic protocol on condition of anonymity . World seeks next step as deaths mount . The diplomat confirmed that more than a month ago , Sheikh had come to the same refugee camp in Turkey that housed Assad . The diplomat added that the general had tried to assume command over the colonel . It is not clear how much command and control any of the exiled officers have over defecting troops and other armed opposition groups inside Syria . But another former army officer based in Istanbul told CNN neither the Higher Military Council nor Assad 's Free Syrian Army represented a rebel faction currently battling government forces in the besieged city of Homs . Ancient city in the cross hairs . `` We are not working under the control of the Free Syrian Army or the Higher Military Council , we are independent , '' said Lt. Bassim Khaled , who claimed to represent the rebel `` Al Faroukh Battalion '' in Homs from his places of refuge in Istanbul . During the more than 10 months since the uprising began in Syria , competing civilian exiles have also claimed leadership of the revolution . Some Western diplomats working closely with opposition groups have privately expressed frustration with dissidents ' lack of unity , even as the death toll continues to rise within Syria . The human toll of unrest in Syria . `` A natural reaction for people who have been brutalized for so long is depression and grandiosity , '' said Andrew Tabler , author of `` In the Lion 's Den '' and a Syria specialist with the Washington Institute of Near East Policy . `` It is also confounded by the fact that Syria is made up of various sects and ethnicities . '' Bassem Imadi , a former Syrian ambassador who now works out of the Istanbul offices of the opposition Syrian National Council , argued that after decades of dictatorship , party politics were still a new concept for many of his countrymen . `` Look at it like [ political ] parties being formed for the first time right now , '' he said . `` One day they will come together . ''
Various officers say they are the lead opposition . `` Higher Military Council , '' `` Free Syrian Army '' are two of the rebel groups . They have been fighting for over a year and now want to form an alliance with other rebels against Assad's regime.