Kamal, the father of an eight-year-old girl who was fatally wounded along with his son Hamed (sitting at left on background), cries while being treated in a local hospital in a rebel-controlled area of Aleppo, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

The head of the main opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) on Thursday blamed the international community's failure to react to the country's conflict for fueling Islamic extremist sentiment.

The comments came as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the opposition should "strongly resist the efforts by the extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution," calling for a major overhaul of the opposition, saying it was time to move beyond the SNC.

Speaking to AFP in Beirut on the phone, SNC chairman Abdel Basset Sayda said the situation resulted from the international community's inaction on Syria. "The international community is responsible, through its lack of support for the Syrian people, for the growth of extremism in Syria," said the head of the mainly exiled opposition group.

Clinton said Syrian opposition talks in Qatar next week should lead to a broader coalition that would speak out strongly against extremists.

Western patience has been wearing thin with the SNC, a group of largely expatriate Syrian activists who so far have failed to gain much traction with groups inside the country.

"We've made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition," Clinton said. "They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others."

"There needs to be an opposition structure that is dedicated to representing and protecting all Syrians," Clinton said.

The 19-month-old revolt against Assad claimed at least six more lives on Wednesday when a bomb exploded near a Shi'ite shrine in a suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, state media and opposition activists said.

It followed the collapse of the latest ceasefire proposal, brokered by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in an effort to stop the fighting over the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Wednesday elaborated China's new four-point proposal on a political resolution to the Syrian conflict, urging all parties in Syria to cease fire and begin political transition at an early date.

Yang said all parties in Syria should make every effort to stop fighting and violence, and cooperate actively with the mediation efforts of Brahimi.

"The proposals are based on the latest developments of the situation, and the efforts of the UN, and joint special representative Brahimi's mediation efforts," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Thursday at a regular press briefing, saying China's position on Syria is consistent.