Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova, AzerNews Staff Writer

The new international peace envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said on a visit to the country last Saturday that he has not yet devised a plan to end the Syria crisis, adding that it would be developed after he has met with all concerned parties and countries, Xinhua news agency reported.

The UN and Arab League envoy has held his first talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus. Brahimi's remarks were made after his meeting with President Assad.

For now, Brahimi said he has no definite plan for bringing an end to the Syrian conflict.

"We, however, will set the plan that we will follow after listening to all internal, regional and international parties, hoping that such a plan will manage to open channels towards ending the crisis, and will be also accompanied by a clear strategy," he said.

Brahimi said that he will be visiting all the countries that have interests in Syria, adding that he will come back soon to Syria to continue "talks and work."

"We talked and I think President Assad realized more than I did the dimensions of the crisis and its gravity," Brahimi said.

Brahimi repeated his statement that the "Syrian crisis is very dangerous and it's exacerbating and poses a danger to the Syrian people, the region and the world."

Brahimi said he had told Assad that he will bring forward all the thoughts and the possibilities to help the Syrian people out of the current ordeal.

President Assad said he is committed to resolving the crisis in his country as long as peace efforts are conducted in "neutrality and independence," state media reported.

He addressed the conflict during a meeting in Damascus with Brahimi.

"The success of the political work is linked to pressing the countries which fund and train the terrorists, confiscating weapons into Syria to stop such acts," the president said, according to SANA.

Brahimi, who recently replaced Kofi Annan as the U.N. and Arab League point man for the conflict, highlighted the need for both sides to find a solution and reiterated that the Syrian people are his first priority.

Brahimi also held "candid and comprehensive" talks with Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, the United Nations said in a statement.

"Mr. Brahimi emphasized that, as he said before, he would spare no effort to help find a solution to the crisis," the statement says. "His only masters in this endeavor were the Syrian people, whose welfare and security were his prime concern."

However, the initial talks came on a day when at least 164 people were killed across Syria, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees. It blamed Syrian security forces for the deaths.

Brahimi met members of the officially tolerated opposition on last Friday. The veteran Algerian diplomat held talks with members of the National Co-ordination Committee for Democratic Change, which includes Arab nationalists, Kurds and socialists.

"We told Mr Brahimi... of our support for his efforts to resolve the crisis by ending the violence and killings, providing medical care and releasing political prisoners," Hassan Abdel Azim, the bloc spokesman, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Abdel Azim said last Friday that Brahimi "can't be a repetition or a copy" of his predecessor Kofi Annan, adding that Brahimi should have qualitative additions and efforts.

He noted that Brahimi has "a big convincing power" and also has regional and international influence.