Annan, Assad find consensus
DAMASCUS — UN peace envoy Kofi Annan said he and President Bashar Assad agreed on Monday on an approach to Syria’s conflict that he would now take to the opposition, and he flew on to Iran for talks with the main regional ally of Damascus.
The former UN secretary general is trying to rescue his six-point peace plan, which was worked out with the Syrian government and rebels in April but faltered because the ceasefire it was supposed to begin with never took hold.
Major powers agreed at a meeting with Annan on June 30 that a transitional government should be set up in Syria, but remain at odds over what part Assad might play in the process.
“I just had a positive and constructive discussion with President Assad,” Annan said before leaving for Tehran. “We agreed an approach which I will share with the opposition,” he told reporters in Damascus. He gave no details, but again stressed the importance of halting violence that has killed over 15,000 people in 16 months, by an opposition count.
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said on Twitter: “In both meetings we reassured Annan of Syria’s commitment to implement the 6-point plan and hoped (the) other side is mutually committed.”
In a TV interview on Sunday, Assad said he remained committed to Annan’s plan and accused the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey of supplying arms and logistical support to insurgents fighting to end 42 years of Assad family domination of the pivotal Arab state.
“We know that (Annan) is coming up against countless obstacles but his plan should not be allowed to fail, it is a very good plan,” he told Germany’s ARD network.
“The main obstacle (is) that many countries don’t want (it) to succeed. So they offer political support and they still send armaments and send money to terrorists in Syria,” Assad said, according to a transcript of the interview, held in English.
Syria, led by members of the Alawite sect related to Shiite Islam, has alleged that the Sunni Muslim-led Gulf monarchies are backing unrest among its Sunni majority to check Shiite influence in the region, notably that of Shiite Iran.
Russia, which has thus far defended Assad from the threat of UN sanctions, said it would not deliver Yak-130 fighter planes or other new arms to Syria while the situation there remained unresolved.
“While the situation in Syria is unstable, there will be no new deliveries of arms there,” Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military Technical Co-operation, told journalists at the Farnborough Airshow in Britain, according to the Interfax agency.
The refusal to send more arms to Syria — such exports date back to the Soviet era — may be the most pointed move yet by Moscow to distance itself from Assad as rebels gain some ground and the death toll climbs.
Annan’s plan calls for an end to fighting by government security forces and rebels, withdrawal of the government’s heavy weapons from towns, return of the army to barracks, humanitarian access, and talks between the government and opposition aimed at a “political transition.”