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| Brahimi with the BBC's Lyse Doucet |
On the
ground, NATO says the Syrian military of President Bashar al-Assad today fired
a ballistic missile towards Aleppo and Idlib. At the same time, Syrian jets
bombed Idlib's Taftanaz air base after it was stormed by insurgents.
In the war
of words, Assad’s media fired an unprecedented salvo of accusations against Syria
troubleshooter Lakhdar Brahimi.
Syria’s
state-run daily al-Watan
lambasted the international envoy, saying he “stripped off his
neutrality and laid bare his political nudity.”
“The international envoy, Lakhdar
Brahimi,” it wrote in a short comment on its front-page, “yesterday took off
the mask of integrity and impartiality he has been wearing since he was
appointed to succeed Kofi Annan. He revealed his new face, which sees the
Syrian crisis through the one eye that suits his masters. He proved himself to be no more than
tool to implement the Syria policy of some Western and regional countries.
“Brahimi tried to belittle
the importance of President Assad’s initiative to solve the Syrian crisis by
dumping out its content. He claimed it was not better than what he called the
preceding ‘failed’ initiatives.
“He told the BBC in an
interview, ‘I am afraid what has been said this time is not really different.
It is even more one-sided.’
“He said reform is no more
a bonus granted from higher up because ‘now people want to have a say in how
they are governed. They want to take hold of their own future.’
“He overlooked the fact President
Assad repeated five times in his speech that the initiative would have to be
put to a national referendum.
“It seems Brahimi did not
read President Assad’s initiative, which provides for ending the arming of
insurgents, a national conference to approve new political party, electoral,
local administrative and constitutional legislation followed by a
reconciliation conference, a general amnesty and the launch of reconstruction.”
Brahimi later told
Reuters in an interview in Cairo Assad could have no place in a transitional
government to end civil war, the closest he has come to calling directly for
the embattled president to quit.
"Surely he would
not be a member of that government," he said prior to flying to Geneva for
a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Deputy
Secretary of State William Burns.
"In Syria, in
particular, I think that what people are saying is that a family ruling for 40
years is a little bit too long. So the change has to be real. And I think
President Assad could take the lead in responding to this aspiration of his
people, rather than resisting it," Brahimi told the BBC in his earlier Wednesday
interview.
In other remarks, he also
told the BBC’s Lyse Doucet:
“I think he [President
Assad] has used the word [transition in our meeting]. But whether what he means
by transition is really THE
transition that is needed, I am not certain.”
“What you’re saying [that
he told me in our last meeting he wanted to run for reelection in 2014] is
absolutely true.”
“What Geneva speaks of is
a transitional government with full executive powers. The other thing is: 2014
is too far away. I think the problem has to be solved in 2013 – and as early as
possible in 2013. If we wait until the middle or the end of 2014, there will be
no Syria.”
“The Syrians are talking
two totally different languages. They’re talking past one another. They’re not
talking to one another. The region is also not capable of helping at present. So it is what I call the outer ring, the
wider international community, than can help. That is why I have been working
with the Russians and the Americans to see if we can get an agreement on how ro
go forward.”
“[The two Syria sides]
need to realize there is no military solution. The government will not win. And
the opposition may win in the long term, but by the time they do there will be
no Syria anymore.”
