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.
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Various officers say they are the lead opposition
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"Higher Military Council," "Free Syrian Army" are two of the rebel groups
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A third says it represents rebels battling government forces in the besieged city of Homs
The diplomat confirmed that more than a month ago, Sheikh had come to the same refugee camp in @placeholder that housed Assad.