Brahimi meets Assad, warns world

16 Sep 2012, 3:04 pm   -   Source: AAP

Peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has warned after meeting President Bashar al-Assad that the worsening conflict in Syria threatens the region and world.

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International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has warned after meeting President Bashar al-Assad that the worsening conflict in Syria threatens both the region and the world at large.

Russia, a strong ally of the war-torn nation's government, meanwhile insists it's not "clinging" to any particular Syrian leader but says it will block any new UN resolution aimed at pressuring Assad.

"The crisis is dangerous and getting worse, and it is a threat to the Syrian people, the region and the world," Brahimi, who took over as envoy earlier this month from former UN chief Kofi Annan, said on Saturday.

Quoted by state television, Assad says dialogue between Syrians holds the key to a solution, and he is calling on foreign countries to stop supplying arms to his foes.

"The real problem in Syria is that of combining politics with the work being done on the ground," he said.

"The political work continues, in particular by calling for dialogue between Syrians based on the aspirations of all Syrians.

"The success of political action is dependent on putting pressure on the countries that finance and train the terrorists, and which bring weapons into Syria, until they stop doing so."

Eighteen months into Syria's deadly conflict and without an end in sight, Assad says his government will "co-operate with all sincere efforts to solve the crisis, so long as the efforts are neutral and independent".

Brahimi, a 78-year-old veteran Algerian troubleshooter, has also met Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and members of the officially tolerated opposition since arriving in Damascus on Thursday.

"There is need for all parties to unite their efforts to find a solution for the crisis, given Syria's strategic importance... and the crisis's influence over the whole region," he said.

"The solution can only come from the Syrian people."

He said he currently had "no plan" to tackle the crisis but a strategy will be "set... after listening to all internal, regional and international parties".

Brahimi warned on arrival that the conflict is "getting worse." He is on his first Damascus visit since replacing Annan who quit after a hard-sought peace deal he brokered became a dead letter.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from a network of activists on the ground, says at least 48 people, mostly civilians, were killed nationwide on Saturday.

It says 132 died on Friday, including 100 civilians, 18 of them in Damascus.

On the ground, overnight air strikes killed at least 12 civilians and wounded around 60 in Al-Bab in northern Syria, doctors in the rebel-held town told AFP.

Two fighter jets carried out a series of raids on the town over a period of 12 hours, hitting homes and empty school buildings.

In one home four people lost their lives, three of them women. Residents said there were no rebels in any of the buildings hit.

Clashes also broke out on Saturday in Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo.

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