Damascus: Peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said ahead of US-Russia talks on Syria that President Bashar al-Assad’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 reportedly brokered by Turkey, Qatar and Iran.
UN and Arab League 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,” he told the BBC.
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.”
The stinging comments came ahead of talks in Geneva on Friday between Brahimi and US and Russian officials.
“The trilateral meeting between (Russian Deputy Foreign Minister) Mikhail Bogdanov, (US Undersecretary of State) William Burns, and Lakhdar Brahimi has been planned for January 11 in Geneva,” Bogdanov told the Interfax news agency.
Wednesday’s developments came with no respite from the fighting, which in nearly 22 months of conflict has claimed some 60,000 lives, according to UN figures.
Four children from the same family were among as many as 10 civilians killed in a pre-dawn air strike near the central city of Homs, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In the northwest, jihadist fighters seized parts of a large military airport after a weeks-long siege, the watchdog said, giving Wednesday’s provisional death toll as at least 36. (AFP)
