There can be no transition in Syria until President Bashar al-Assad falls, the Syrian National Council said in a statement on the eve of a visit to Moscow by the opposition group's chief.

"Our main goal is to continue on the path of the revolution and the demands of the Syrian people," the SNC said on Tuesday, emphasising that its priority
was to "work for the fall of the Assad regime and all its symbols."

The SNC statement came a day before the coalition's new leader Abdel Basset Sayda was due to travel to Moscow at the invitation of the Russian foreign
ministry, it said.

The fall of the Assad regime was a prerequisite, the statement said, "of any negotiations to arrange a transfer of power and the start of a transitional
phase."

Sayda, an outspoken critic of Moscow's policies towards Damascus, was due to visit Russia two days after top Syrian dissident Michel Kilo made a similar
trip.

Russia, a close ally of Damascus, has repeatedly refused to back any international resolution on Syria calling for military intervention in the 16-month-old crisis.

The SNC said it would hold fast to its call on the international community to invoke Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which contemplates military action
among other coercive measures.