New Syrian National Council Leader: Assad Regime on 'Last Legs’

The government of President Bashar Assad is on its "last legs" and has lost control of several cities, the new opposition Syrian National Council leader, Abdel Basset Sayda, told Agence France Presse on Sunday.

"We are entering a sensitive phase. The regime is on its last legs," Sayda said a few hours after he was named as the new SNC president.

"The multiplying massacres and shelling show that it is struggling.

"According to reports, the regime has lost control of Damascus and other cities," he asserted. Fighting between regime troops and rebels has intensified recently in the capital, which remains the city most protected by regime forces.

Asked about his ambitions as SNC leader, Sayda said the opposition bloc "would focus its efforts on the international community to take a decisive move against the regime, which continues to carry out massacres."

"The Annan plan still exists but it has not been implemented. We will work for this plan to be included under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, to force the regime to implement it and to leave all options open" he said.

Chapter VII allows for sanctions and, in extreme cases, military action. Russia and China, infuriated by the NATO campaign in Libya last year, have vowed to oppose any military intervention.

"We want to strengthen links with activists on the ground and the Free Syrian Army, who we will support with all our means", he said.

Sayda's predecessor, Burhan Ghalioun, stepped down last month after being criticized for ignoring the Local Coordination Committees, which spearhead anti-government protests on the ground, and for giving the Muslim Brotherhood too large a role.

"There are great challenges ahead... We will work towards the restructuring of the SNC and the implementation of reforms," he said.

Sayda, who has lived in exile in Sweden for two decades, is seen as a consensus candidate capable of reconciling the rival factions within the SNC and of broadening its appeal among Syria's myriad of ethnic and confessional groups.

Sayda, 55, is not familiar to many Syrians but SNC officials say he is a "conciliatory" figure, "honest" and "independent.”

Later on Sunday, Sayda called on all members of the Damascus regime to defect amid raging violence that has claimed thousands of lives.

"We call upon all officials in the regime and in the institutions to defect from the regime," Sayda said in a joint press conference with outgoing SNC chief Burhan Ghalioun in Istanbul.

“We wanted the revolution to remain peaceful but the brutal regime insisted on genocide and the Syrian people chose resistance,” he added.

Sayda called on Russia and China to “carefully observe the dangerous situation in Syria,” urging them to join international efforts to pressure the regime.

He also called on Syria’s key regional ally Iran to “respect the choice of the Syrian people.”

Sayda also reached out to minority groups in Syria, following criticism of the SNC for failing to represent the country's full array of ethnic and religious groups including Arabs, Kurds, Sunni Muslims, Alawites, Christians, Druze and others.

"We would like to reassure all sects and groups, especially Alawites and Christians, that the future of Syria will be for the all of us," he said. "There will be no discrimination based on gender or sects. The new Syria will be a democratic state."

Sayda also urged Syrians abroad to stage protests outside Syrian embassies around the world.

He also stressed that the SNC “will work as one, unified team for the sake of the revolution.”

“I salute the souls of Syria's martyrs. I salute the men and women who are detained in the cellars and prisons of the oppression regime and I salute the Free Army for defending our people,” added Sayda.

For his part, Ghalioun said “there won't be a major change in the general approach and the political stance (of the SNC) and we will work according to new bases.”

“We must put the council in the service of the Syrian revolution and provide all means of support to our people in Syria to help them stand their ground in the face of this criminal, killer regime,” added Ghalioun.

“We will offer all kinds of support and aid to the cities invaded by the forces of this fascist regime,” he vowed.

He said the change in the SNC’s leadership “reflects the strong cohesion of the National Council and it's a strong practical response to those who questioned this council's ability to survive.”

“This election confirms the unity of the council which aims to turn Syria into a democratic state,” he added.