Libya's interim government has become the first in the world to recognise Syria's opposition movement as a "legitimate authority" to rule Syria.

The body that toppled the former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi after more than 40 years claimed the Syrian National Council was "more representative" than the incumbent president, Bashar al-Assad, who has battled a sustained popular revolt that threatens to oust his regime for the past six months.

The suggestion will anger the Assad regime, which was a staunch supporter of Gaddafi and now fears the Arab League is mounting a co-ordinated challenge to its authority. On Sunday night, the Arab League gave Syria 15 days to stop a bloody crackdown against demonstrators. Some Gulf states have urged suspending Syria from the organisation. A suspension would pose a serious challenge to Assad, who claims the uprising is an Islamic conspiracy backed by the US and Israel. He has vowed to implement a range of reforms, which would cede some power in the highly centralised state to opposition groups and remove the Ba'ath party from its omnipotent role in public life.

Syrian officials have warned of a strong response to attempts by Arab League members to delegitimise Assad's rule, which has dominated Syria for more than four decades. .

The Syrian National Council, an umbrella group for opposition entities, has won support from some EU states, as well as Turkey and the US. But all have described the group as a work in progress and not yet a viable governing authority.

However, Guma al-Gamaty, the UK-based co-ordinator for Libya's National Transitional Council, which now holds interim government status, said it was not premature to acknowledge a new authority in Syria. "The nature of the Syrian regime is very similar to the former Gaddafi regime," he said. "We feel the Syrian people have been let down by the world, and they need moral and political support.

"We are a free country now, and we don't recognise the Assad regime as a legitimate political entity. The Syrian National Council is much more representative of the Syrian people than the Assad regime.

"We went through the same process. We got political recognition and political support from various countries, and that was crucial for taking away legitimacy from Gaddafi. We think the Syrians are entitled to the same.

"Hopefully it will set a precedent for other countries to do the same. I sincerely hope that other free countries will realise that Assad has lost political legitimacy.

"The council speaks for the Syrian people, it represents a wide array of groups and personalities. And we share its values."

Clashes have continued in Syria's fourth city, Homs, where an armed fightback against government troops has been going on for at least a month.

Defectors from security forces are leading the fighting, and are actively seeking weapons from outside the country. A further nine people are reported to have been killed in Homs in the last 24 hours.

The toll during seven months of largely peaceful protests in Syria is now more than 3,000. More than 1,100 members of the security forces are also believed to have been killed. Attacks against security force members have increased in recent weeks.