Suggestions that Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
step down are "completely unacceptable," Syria's minister tasked with talking to the opposition said in Tehran on Monday.
"Foreign interference" was behind that idea, which would be "a violation of Syria's illusory sovereignty," National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar charged in a news conference, the ISNA news agency reported.
Instead, Syria's rebels should be encouraged to lay down their arms, said Haidar, who is in Tehran attending Non-Aligned Movement meetings.
He claimed that "the United States and Israel are the real architects of the proposals (that Assad step down) put forward by Qatar, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
and Turkey."
The Syrian minister added that Iran -- which is steadfast in its support of Assad -- "is not directly interfering in Syrian issues but it is standing by the Syrian people and is against foreign interference in Syria."
The comments underlined the defiance of Damascus
...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
as it battles a 17-month insurgency that has cost more than 17,000 lives according to the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
, or 25,000 according to the British-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.
Syria's opposition groups have made Assad's departure a condition before any peace negotiations take place, a position echoed by the United States, La Belle France and Britannia.
But Assad, who enjoys diplomatic cover from Russia and China, has refused to go. On Sunday, he vowed he would not change course in the conflict against what he termed a "conspiracy" by Western and regional powers.
Haidar said that, "on principle, the proposal (for Assad to step down) is completely unacceptable since it has been put forward by foreign countries and any foreign interference in Syrian issues is a violation of Syria's illusory sovereignty as well as of the UN charter."
He added: "The only solution is to end foreign interference and for the opposition to put down its arms."
"Misunderstandings" between the Syrian people and government "have transformed into a violent crisis," he admitted, but he asserted that Damascus was ready to meet opposition demands through talks.