Syrian opposition elects new leader as clashes continue

The main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), has elected Kurdish activist Abdulbaset Sieda as its leader at a meeting in Istanbul, a council statement said.

Sieda, who has been living in exile in Sweden for many years, was the only candidate for the three-month presidency of the SNC at a meeting of 33 members of the councils' general secretariat on Saturday.

The 56-year-old succeeds Burhan Ghalioun, a liberal opposition figure who had presided over the council since it was formed in August of last year.

Ghalioun, another exile living in Paris, has come under criticism for having had his presidency constantly renewed when the council was supposed to represent a democratic alternative to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the most influential player in the council, had initially indicated it wanted Ghalioun to remain president, but then opted to support Sieda after opposition activists inside Syria raised objections to Ghalioun following a third renewal of his term last month.

Adib al-Shihakly, a founding member of the council, had also threatened to resign if Ghalioun remained president.

Meanwhile, violence continued in Syria, with activists reporting government assaults on the southern city of Deraa and Homs in the centre of the country.

At least 52 civilians were killed around the country outside Damascus on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based activist group.

Among them were 20, including nine women and children, who died in heavy, pre-dawn shelling in the southern city of Daraa, where the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.

Six children were among 10 killed by a shell that exploded in a house they took cover in during fierce fighting in the coastal region of Latakia, the group said.

The group's figures could not be independently confirmed.

Activists in Homs said several neighbourhoods were under intense shelling for the third day in a row on Saturday. They said al-Khaldiyeh, Jouret al-Shayyah, al-Qusour and Old Homs were being bombarded with mortars and rockets.

At least six people were reportedly killed. Military reinforcements were reported to have arrived to the city, including armoured vehicles and dozens of pickups equipped with machine guns. 

In the latest diplomatic development, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said his country would not approve the use of force against the Syrian government at the United Nations.

Lavrov said "the situation is becoming more alarming", but stressed that there was no alternative to a peace plan mediated by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to stop the violence.