Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Syrian President Bashar Assad's initiative to end the civil war ravaging his country is unrealistic and proves again that he should step down, the U.S. State Department said Sunday.

"Assad's speech is yet another attempt by the regime to cling to power and does nothing to advance the Syrian people's goal of a political transition. His initiative is detached from reality," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Nuland also said that Assad's proposal undermined the work of special UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, and "would only allow the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people."

"For nearly two years, the Assad regime has brutalized its own people," she said.

"Assad has lost all legitimacy and must step aside to enable a political solution and a democratic transition that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people."

On Sunday, Assad delivered a speech in which he outlined a three-phase plan to put an end to the 21-month-old conflict. The plan includes a national reconciliation conference, the formation of a new government and an amnesty.

The Syrian president denounced the opposition as "puppets of the West" and said Syria wanted to negotiate with the "master, not the servants."

Assad told foreign powers to stop backing the rebels. He said the reconciliation conference would exclude "those who have betrayed Syria".

In his speech, Assad also thanked his strong supporters Russia, China and Iran for backing Syria in the face of hostility from the US, Britain and France.

Assad said the military operations will cease right after that, adding that a mechanism would be set up to monitor any such truce.

Nuland also said Washington would continue to support peace envoy Brahimi's efforts to implement a framework for peace endorsed by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the Arab League and the U.N. General Assembly.

She accused Assad's regime of "deliberately stoking sectarian tensions and continuing to kill its own people by attacking Sunni towns and villages" in parts of Latakia province.

Along with the United States, Turkey didn't take seriously Assad's peace plan, saying he offered nothing new.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reacted on Sunday to the speech made by Assad, saying he repeats "empty promises" and that he does not seem to understand what is happening in the Middle East, Todays Zaman newspaper reported.

Davutoglu said at a press conference in the western province of Izmir where the Fifth Ambassadors Conference was held that Assad is unable to respond to the demands of the Syrian people and that he cannot speak to their hearts and minds.

He noted that "it is not possible to move forward without recognizing the opposition that the whole world has recognized."

Davutoglu said that the international community must take urgent action on sending humanitarian aid to Syria.

Syrian opposition groups have also rejected the new peace initiative by President Assad, insisting that he offered no meaningful concessions and should surrender power at once.

"It was a waste of time. He said nothing constructive," a spokesman of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Louay Safi, said, Al Jazeera reported on Monday. "It was empty rhetoric."

Opposition leaders have repeatedly said they will accept nothing less than the president's departure, dismissing any kind of settlement that leaves Assad in the picture.

"There's not a single opposition leader who can go public and say 'we will negotiate and compromise with Assad in power', a senior commander of the Free Syrian Army told Al Jazeera.

"We are fighting an external aggression that is more dangerous than any others, because they use us to kill each other," he said.

On the other hand, one of Assad's staunch allies, Iran, hailed the president's peace initiative.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran supports Assad's political initiative for the resolution of the crisis, IRNA news agency reported.

"Assad's initiative includes solutions which stress end of...foreign interference in the country and describes a comprehensive political process which guarantees the presence of all voices in power based on the country's national charter. This initiative emphasizes drafting a new constitution, a parliamentary election and establishment of a new government," Salehi said in a statement released on Sunday.

Salehi said that Assad's initiative has been inspired by the UN charter and joint pivots of all regional and international solutions, including Iran's six-point plan for the resolution of the Syrian crisis.

The Iranian FM asked all Syrian parties, civil society institutions and the opposition as well as all regional and international partners involved to use the opportunity for a transition from the present situation and preparing the ground for a purely Syrian solution of the crisis.

"All regional and international partners should help immediate resolution of the crisis and prevent its spread to the region," Salehi said.

Meanwhile, the deadly clashes between government forces and rebels continue to claim the lives of thousands of innocent people every passing day.

At least 60,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict between government forces and the opposition, which comprises groups of all stripes, from Communists and secular liberals to Islamist groups.