France urges SNC's sayda to unite Syrian opposition

France said it would hold talks with Russia on its idea of an international Syria conference, as it urged the new head of the Syrian National Council to unite the opposition. Paris congratulated Kurdish activist Abdel Basset Sayda on his naming as the SNC's new leader at the weekend, calling on him to work to bring the diverse regime opponents together. Paris is scheduled host the next meeting of the pro-opposition "Friends of Syria" group on July 6, in which Russia, China and Iran have never participated. The new head of Syria's main opposition group called on Sunday for mass defections from a regime he says is "on its last legs". "We are entering a sensitive phase. The regime is on its last legs," Sayda, a Kurdish activist, told AFP shortly after being named the new leader of the SNC. "The multiplying massacres and shellings show that it is struggling," he said of mass civilian deaths, the latest of which saw 20 people, mostly women and children, killed in a bombardment of the southern city of Daraa on Saturday. At his first news conference since taking over the reins, Sayda called on all members of the Damascus regime to defect, while reaching out to minority groups by promising them a full say in a future, democratic Syria.