French Foreign Minister to Meet SNC Head before Geneva Talks

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will meet the head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Abdel Basset Sayda, on Friday before international talks in Geneva on Syria's conflict, the ministry said.

It will be the first meeting between Fabius and Sayda since he was chosen to lead the umbrella Syrian opposition group on June 10.

The foreign ministry said earlier that Fabius would attend this weekend's talks in Geneva where United Nations-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is expected to push a plan for an interim government for Syria.

Sayda, a Kurdish activist, took over the exiled dissident coalition amid tensions between activists and rebel fighters on the ground inside Syria and the emigres who have been the main point of contact with the outside world.