BEIRUT: President Bashar Assad told UN/Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday that no political solution was possible in Syria while “terrorist” groups were destabilizing the country.“Syria is ready to make a success of any honest effort to find a solution for the events it is witnessing,” state news agency SANA quoted Assad as telling his guest.
“No political dialogue or political activity can succeed while there are armed terrorist groups operating and spreading chaos and instability,” the Syrian leader said after about two hours of talks with the former UN secretary-general.
While they discussed AnnanÂ’s peace mission, Syrian troops were assaulting the northwestern city of Idlib, a rebel bastion.
“Regime forces have just stormed into Idlib with tanks and heavy shelling is now taking place,” said an activist contacted by telephone, the sound of explosions punctuating the call.
There was no immediate comment from Annan after his meeting with Assad, aimed at halting bloodshed that has cost thousands of lives since a popular uprising erupted a year ago.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met Annan in Cairo earlier in the day, told the Arab League his country was “not protecting any regime,” but did not believe the Syrian crisis could be blamed on one side alone. He called for a cease-fire and humanitarian aid access, but Qatar and Saudi Arabia sharply criticized Moscow’s stance.
Annan also planned to meet Syrian dissidents before leaving Damascus on Sunday.
| Brilliant idea. Pencilneck's goons will track the meeting and whack the dissidents the moment Annan hops back into his Land Cruiser. |
“We support any initiative that aims to stop the killings, but we reject it if it is going to give Bashar more time to break the revolution and keep him in power,” Melham Al-Droubi, a Saudi-based member of the Muslim Brotherhood and of the exiled Syrian National Council, told Reuters by telephone.
“We hope that Annan convinces Bashar to stop the killings, step down and call for a parliamentary election,” he said, expressing skepticism that Assad would respond positively.