Lavrov Meets Assad: He's Committed to Ending Violence, Wants Arab Mission Enlarged
Russia's foreign minister said after Damascus talks on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed in Syria even as regime tanks pounded the central city of Homs for a fourth straight day.
Sergei Lavrov said he had had a "very useful" meeting with Assad and that Moscow was eager to work towards a solution based on an Arab League plan that it had previously criticized.
"We (Russia) confirmed our readiness to act for a rapid solution to the crisis based on the plan put forward by the Arab League," said Lavrov, adding that Syria was also ready see an enlarged Arab League mission in the country, Russian news agencies said.
The pan-Arab bloc deployed an observer mission to Syria in December to oversee a plan to end bloodshed that has now lasted almost 11 months but suspended it late January after the mission's chief said that the violence had reached a new pitch of intensity.
The 22-nation League has since put forward a plan for Assad to hand his powers to Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa and a national unity government to oversee the preparation of democratic elections.
Sharaa, a veteran regime diplomat with a career that stretches back to the rule of Assad's late father president Hafez al-Assad, attended Tuesday's talks with Lavrov, the official SANA news agency said.
Lavrov did not specify which of the two Arab plans he was referring to in his comments Tuesday, although SANA interpreted him as referring to the earlier one.
Moscow had previously criticized foreign calls for Assad to step down but in an interview with Australian television last week Lavrov insisted: "We never said that President Assad remaining in power is the solution to the crisis."
After Tuesday's talks, he said he believed Damascus had heard Moscow's message but did not go into details.
Lavrov said Assad was ready for dialogue with all parties.
"It's clear that efforts to stop violence should be accompanied by the start of dialogue between all the political forces."
"Today we've received confirmation of President Assad's readiness to facilitate this work."
Lavrov said Syria was also pressing ahead with the slow-moving reform program promised by Assad in a series of speeches last year and would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution to replace the current one which enshrines the leading role of his Baath party.
"In particular, President Assad assured (us) that he is fully committed to the task of a cessation of violence, from whatever source it comes."
Moscow is assuming that "efforts to solve the Syria crisis should be continued", said Lavrov.
"The Russian side intends to be actively engaged in this, including in the continuing work with the Syrian side, with Syria's neighbors and the Arab League," he added.
Later on Tuesday, Syria’s state news agency SANA quoted Assad as telling Lavrov that he remained committed to all efforts toward stability in his strife-torn country.
"The president reiterated Syria's willingness to cooperate with all efforts towards stability in Syria," SANA said.
It said that Assad in his meeting with Lavrov had thanked Moscow for its backing at the U.N. Security Council and for its keenness on dialogue to end the nearly 11-month crisis in Syria.
SANA said Assad and Lavrov had discussed the latest developments in Syria, reforms under way and what it said were attacks nationwide by "armed terrorist gangs" backed by outside forces.
"President Assad said that Syria from the start has welcomed any efforts toward a solution to the Syrian crisis and is committed to the Arab League plan that was decided on November 2, 2011," SANA said.
It added that Assad had fully cooperated with an Arab League observer mission to Syria last month despite what it called efforts at sabotage by certain Arab parties.
At the opening of the talks, Lavrov said he was confident that the Syrian leader knew what he had to do.
"Every leader in every country should be aware of his share of responsibility. You are aware of yours," the Russian minister said.
Syrian state news agency SANA said Lavrov arrived to a "huge popular reception in appreciation of Russia's support to Syria, people and its reform program."
State television aired footage of regime supporters waving Syrian and Russian flags as they lined the streets.
Many chanted: "Thank you Russia, thank you China," in reference to the two governments' use of their Security Council vetoes last week to block U.N. action against the Syrian regime.
The precise purpose of the Russian diplomatic mission has been kept tightly under wraps since it was first announced at the weekend.
Ahead of their arrival, reports had said Lavrov might try to persuade Assad to quit.
Human rights groups say more than 6,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the revolt mid-March. The U.N. Children's Fund, UNICEF, said at least 400 children have been killed.
Moscow sparked Western fury last week by joining Beijing in using its veto at the Security Council to block U.N. action against the Damascus regime.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it a "travesty."
Beijing expressed hope Lavrov's visit would succeed, and said it was considering sending its own envoys to help resolve the conflict.
Syria's main Middle East ally, Iran was also to dispatch a deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, to Damascus on Tuesday, its official IRNA news agency said.
Turkey, which shared Western anger over the Russian and Chinese vetoes, said it would launch a "new initiative" with like-minded countries which "stand by the Syrian people, not the regime."
A day after the United States closed its Damascus embassy, France, Italy, Spain and the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council joined Britain and Belgium in recalling their ambassadors to Syria for consultations.
The GCC states also expelled the Syrian ambassadors from their capitals.
But the European Union stressed it had no plans to close its own mission in the Syrian capital.
Source: Agence France Presse
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