Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
's new plan for his embattled country is "more sectarian, more one-sided" than previous initiatives.
He spoke as the first major prisoner swap in the 21-month conflict took place, with rebels freeing 48 Iranians in exchange for more than 2,000 regime detainees in a drawn-out deal with Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
reportedly brokered by Turkey, Qatar and Iran.
U.N. and Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Brahimi was giving his first public reaction to a three-step plan announced by Assad on Sunday.
"What has been said this time is not really different and it is perhaps even more sectarian, more one-sided," Brahimi told the BBC.
"What you need is reaching out and recognizing that there is a problem, a very, very serious problems between Syrians, and that Syrians have got to talk to one another to solve it," he said.
Assad's plan for a "political solution" in Syria was swiftly rejected by the opposition and Western nations as being detached from reality.
The plan offered a dialogue with the opposition to end the conflict -- but only with elements he deemed acceptable, not rebel-affiliated groups he termed "killers" and "terrorists" led by foreigners.
Referring to the so-called Arab Spring that has swept the region since late 2010, Brahimi said: "Now people want to have a say in how they are governed. They want to take hold of their own future."
"In Syria in particular, what people are saying is that one family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long."