DAMASCUS - Peace envoy Kofi Annan emerged optimistic Sunday from talks with President Bashar al-Assad but warned of a “tough” mission to end bloodletting in Syria, even as soldiers were pounding a rebel bastion.
“It’s going to be tough, it’s going to be difficult, but we have to have hope. I am optimistic,” the UN-Arab League envoy told reporters at the end of his second round of talks in Damascus with Assad. “The situation is so bad and so dangerous that all of us cannot afford to fail,” the former UN chief added, in response to a suggestion that dialogue with the government was futile.
Diplomats at the United Nations in New York had expressed pessimism about the prospects for Annan’s mission after troops poured into the northwestern city of Idlib late on Saturday just hours after his first meeting with Assad. Annan told the media conference that he had on Sunday discussed with Assad ways to halt unrest in Syria, which monitors say has claimed more than 8,500 lives since March last year. “I presented a set of concrete proposals which would have a real impact on the situation on the ground and which will help launch a process aimed at putting an end to this crisis,” the former UN chief said. “The realistic response is to embrace change and reforms,” he added.
Syrian state television said there was a “positive atmosphere” to Saturday’s talks between Assad and the former UN chief, their first since Annan’s appointment as international envoy on the conflict.
The president said on Saturday he would back any “honest” bid to end the violence but warned dialogue would fail if the “terrorist groups” he claims are fomenting the violence remained, state media said. The authorities have said these “terrorist groups” are the target of their military operation in Idlib province, in northwestern Syria on the Turkish border, launched on Friday.
Activists have expressed concern that the city of Idlib, which bears the same name as the province, would suffer a similar fate to the Homs neighbourhood of Baba Amr, which was stormed by government troops on March 1 after a month-long bombardment in which hundreds of people died.
On Sunday, at least 34 people, almost half of the civilians, were killed across Syria on Sunday as peace envoy Kofi Annan held a second round of talks with President Bashar al Assad, a monitoring group said. The casualties comprised 15 civilians, 14 regular army soldiers and five rebel fighters, many of whom died in fierce fighting raging in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Deaths were also reported in the province of Damascus and in the central city of Hama, the Britain-based group said. Thirty-two civilians were among the 91 people killed nationwide on Saturday. The army shelled Idlib heavily before sweeping Saturday into the city, where 16 civilians were killed, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Dozens were wounded and scores arrested by regime forces.
After seizing Idlib town, troops fanned out into rural areas of the province on Sunday, notably the Jisr al-Shughur district, Abdel Rahman said.