Baku, January 21 (AZERTAC). Syria`s opposition leaders on Saturday launched their second bid to form a transitional government, with their credibility at stake as the country slides deeper into civil war.

Agreement among the National Coalition, an umbrella group for the Syrian opposition, could help address international concern about the risk of Syria disintegrating along ethnic and sectarian lines if President Bashar al-Assad falls.

Failure at the talks, being held in an Istanbul hotel, would highlight divisions in the coalition, formed with Western and Gulf backing in Qatar two months ago, and undermine that support.

Leading opposition campaigner Kamal al-Labwani, a member of the coalition, said the group needed at least to name a prime minister to maintain credibility as a democratic alternative to four decades of family rule by Assad and his late father, President Hafez al-Assad.

With diminishing prospects for a deal to remove Assad, any prime minister named by the coalition would have to be acceptable to rebels who have been making incremental gains on the ground despite massive air and artillery bombardment.

Naming a transitional government was part of the original agreement under which the coalition was formed last year.

The 70-member coalition was formed with Western and Gulf backing in Qatar at the beginning of December. Power struggles swiftly emerged among its members, contributing to failed efforts to agree on a transitional government.

Another possible contender is Asaad Mustafa, who left Syria after a stint as agriculture minister under Hafez al-Assad.

But coalition member Abdul Ahad Astephoa, one of three Christians in the group, said there were larger issues to be resolved first.

"If we form a government we have to make sure first it will receive international recognition, have enough financing and be able to operate in the liberated areas of Syria," he added.