Syria's main exiled opposition group has elected a Kurdish academic to try to unify the movement after months of infighting, and activists report at least 18 more deaths in government shelling and clashes across the country.

Senior members of the opposition Syrian National Council chose Abdulbaset Sieda to be the group's new leader at a meeting in Istanbul that lasted from late Saturday until early Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, Sieda said the SNC should continue to reform itself to include more opposition figures.

“We will continue our reform and we will do our new structure in the council. And it's most important to us that all of our members (are) active and connected with the opposition. Also, we will continue and we will try (to ensure) that the SNC will become the real representative for the people in Syria.”

Sieda is in his mid-50s and lives in exile in Sweden. Other SNC members including Abdel Hamid Al Attassi described Sieda as a consensus figure.

“He is an academician. He is also well-known, a moderate man. We shouldn't claim that he has Islamic tendencies or secular tendencies. He has been approved and accepted by everyone.”

Sieda replaces Burhan Ghalioun, who agreed to step down last month under criticism of his leadership.

The SNC has been plagued by internal rivalries since it was formed last year to try to present a credible alternative to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ghalioun's critics complained that he gave Islamists too powerful a role in the SNC and did not do enough to coordinate with committees of youth activists organizing protests inside Syria.

Meanwhile, Syrian activists say violence Sunday has killed 18 people across the country, with more casualties expected after a bombing near Homs.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA that the heaviest casualties Sunday were in Homs province, where fighting and shelling killed at least 12 people. He said there was also a bombing in the local council building in the town on Qusayr, near Homs, but did not know the number of casualties there.

Fighting elsewhere killed two soldiers in Daraa, a civilian in Idlib and two armed civilians near Aleppo. The Observatory also said a lawyer was killed Sunday in Damascus, where U.N. observers were dispatched to investigate reports of intense fighting from the day before.

Syrian activists say fighting on Saturday killed at least 96 people, mostly civilians. The Observatory said the day's highest death toll was in Daraa, with at least 20 people killed, when pro-government forces bombarded the southern town where a pro-democracy uprising began 15 months ago.

Sieda's election as SNC chief may help the opposition council to boost its support among Syrian Kurds, who make up about 10 percent of the country's population and have largely stayed on the sidelines of the anti-Assad revolt. Many Syrian Kurds fear they would continue to suffer discrimination if the majority Sunni-led opposition overthrows Mr. Assad's minority Alawite-led government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused Syria of massacring its own civilians with help from Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, both allies of the Assad government.

“It is a sleight carried out not only by the Syrian government, it is being helped by Iran and Hezbollah, and the world must today see the focused axis of evil: Iran-Syria-Hezbollah. The face of this axis of evil has been exposed in its full ugliness.''

Earlier, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz accused the Syrian government of committing “genocide” and called for international military intervention. In an interview on Israeli radio Sunday, he said world powers have failed to take action and criticized Russia for selling weapons to Mr. Assad, a longtime ally of Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that Moscow would support Mr. Assad's departure from power if the Syrian people agree on it.

It was not clear if Lavrov's comment marked a softening of Russia's support for the Syrian president. Russia has repeatedly blocked Western and Arab efforts to impose U.N. sanctions on his government.

Speaking at a Moscow news conference, Lavrov reiterated Russia's rejection of any foreign military intervention in the Syrian conflict. He also repeated his call for nations supporting and opposing Mr. Assad to join an international conference to salvage a Syria peace plan drafted by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.