Senior negotiator calls on rebels to escalate attacks in "self defence"

AMMAN (Reuters) - Senior Syrian opposition negotiator Mohammad Alloush, representing Jaish al Islam, a major rebel group, said on Sunday rebels should retaliate against what he called Syrian army attacks on civilians. "I say this response should be retaliation so that the regime does not think of attacking civilians as it escalates its attacks," Alloush told Arabic TV al Hadath "I don't think this is a call to escalate violence, it is a call for self-defence no more," he said. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Ali Abdelatti in Cairo; editing by Ralph Boulton)