DUBAI – The head of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main umbrella group for opponents of President Bashar Al-Assad, said Sunday that talks would be held within weeks to form a transitional government that would in time replace Assad's ministerial team. Abdelbasset Sida, president of the SNC, said such a government would run the country between Assad's ousting and democratic elections. Most of its members would be drawn from the opposition, but some members of the current Assad government might also be included, he added. “This government should come about before the fall (of Assad) so that it presents itself as an alternative for the next stage,” Sida told Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia television in an interview Sunday. “The committees that we have set up have their own schedules. Obviously, the matter should be concluded within weeks.” “There are some elements in the current regime who are not bloodstained, who were not part of major corruption cases. We will discuss (including them) with other parties, but there should be a national consensus to accept them.” Visiting Abu Dhabi to meet UAE officials, Sida did not say when exactly a transitional government might be formed, telling a news conference that he had discussed the idea with Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, UAE's Foreign Minister. The SNC has set up two committees to discuss the idea; the first will communicate with the Free Syrian Army, the major rebel military group, while the second will deal with all other opposition groups, said Sida. He appealed for its foreign allies to provide with heavy weapons to fight Assad's “killing machine.” “The rebels are fighting with primitive weapons. We want weapons that we can stop tanks and planes with. This is what we want,” Sida told a news conference. Sida was speaking as rebels and government forces backed by tanks and helicopters fought in the streets of Aleppo, Syria's main commercial city. Weapons supplies “will make Syrians able to defend themselves against this killing machine”, Sida said. He called on the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session to discuss the fighting in Aleppo, saying that the regime is planning “massacres.” “The Syrian National Council calls on the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session to discuss the situation in Aleppo, Damascus and Homs,” he said, adding that the “regime is preparing to storm and commit massacres in Aleppo.” Abu Alaa, an activist, said there was renewed shelling of the Salaheddin District in southwest Aleppo where rebels repulsed a ground assault on Saturday. He said there were also clashes between troops and rebels in the Bab Al-Nasr, Bab Al-Hadid and Old City neighborhoods. – Agencies
