"We are really close to seeing this military intervention as the only solution. There are two evils, military intervention or protracted civil war," Basma Kodmani, a senior SNC official, told a press conference in Paris.

Kodmani said the SNC was also proposing that Russia, which has vetoed action against the Syrian government in the U.N. Security Council, help persuade Damascus to guarantee safe passage to humanitarian convoys ferrying aid to civilians. "In order to not militarise, the idea is to ask Russia to exert pressure on the regime not to target humanitarian corridors," she said.

Kodmani said the SNC proposed setting up corridors from Lebanon to the besieged city of Homs, from Turkey to Idlib and from Jordan to Deraa. The SNC will also urge Egypt, at a Friends of Syria meeting due to be held in Tunis on Friday, to restrict access to the Suez Canal to any ships carrying weapons to the Syrian regime.