"We are entering a sensitive phase. The regime is on its last legs,"

A Kurdish individual, Abdulbaset Sieda, has been chosen as the new chairman of the anti-Damascus Syrian National Council (SNC), which is located in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

Sieda was chosen as the only candidate of the Turkish-based group during a meeting in Istanbul on Saturday.

The selection came although the majority of Syrians are Arabs and Kurds only make up less than ten percent of the population.

Sieda replaced Burhan Ghalioun who resigned following a series of deepening rifts inside the council, which has been criticized repeatedly over internal conflicts.

Sieda said the group supports the so-called Free Syrian Army in its fight against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

He said on Assad's regime was on its "last legs," even as Russia warned it would block any move at the UN to use force against its ally. "We are entering a sensitive phase. The regime is on its last legs," Sieda told AFP shortly after he was named. "The multiplying massacres and shellings show that it is struggling," he added.

Asked about his ambitions as SNC leader, Sayda said the so-called opposition bloc "would focus its efforts on the international community to take a decisive move against the regime." "We want to strengthen links with activists on the ground and the (rebel) Free Syrian Army, who we will support with all our means", he said.
  
"The Annan plan still exists but it has not been implemented," he added. "We will work for this plan to be included under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, to force the regime to implement it and to leave all options open," he said.