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Subscribe to RSSBEIRUT -- Syrian President Bashar Assad dispatched senior diplomats to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to end the 21-month-old conflict gripping Syria, Syrian and Lebanese sources said.
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous flew early Wednesday to Moscow, airport officials in Beirut told The Associated Press. The men hope to sound out Russian officials on details discussed with Brahimi earlier this week in Damascus.
Brahimi is trying to arrange a peaceful transfer of power, but has disclosed little about how this might be achieved. Opposition sources have staunchly rejected any solution that would leave President Bashar Assad and his government in power.
"We have told every official we have met: the government and its president cannot stay on in power, with or without their powers. This is unacceptable to Syrians," wrote Moaz Alkhatib, the head of the opposition's National Coalition, on his Facebook page on Monday.
"The coalition leadership has told Lakhdar Brahimi directly that this type of solution is rejected."
On Monday, Brahimi said that the situation was "worrying" and gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.
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Brahimi is scheduled to go to Moscow before the end of the month.
ITV's Emma Murphy spoke with Syrian refugee women in Jordan who described harrowing, brutal treatment.
'A new mood'
Brahimi's previous proposal centered on a transitional government that left open Assad's future role, something which became a sticking point between the government, the opposition and foreign powers backing different sides.
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However, a Lebanese official close to Assad's government said Syrian officials were upbeat after talks with the envoy, who met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem on Tuesday.
"There is a new mood now and something good is happening," the official said, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. "Of course now they (Syrian officials) want to meet with their allies to discuss these new developments."
Channel Four Europe's Alex Thomson has the rare opportunity to meet some of Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops.
More than 44,000 Syrians have died in the revolt against four decades of Assad family rule, a conflict that began with peaceful protests but which has descended into civil war.
Israel: No proof chemical weapon was used in Syria
The last several days have seen some of the heaviest fighting for three months. On Wednesday, rebels re-launched their assault on the Wadi Deif military base in the northwestern province of Idlib, in a critical battle for a major army base and fuel storage and distribution point.
Activist Ahmed Kaddour said rebels were firing mortars and had attacked the base with an explosives-rigged vehicle.
As violence has intensified in recent weeks, with Assad using his air power and artillery to contain rebel advances, daily death tolls have climbed. At least 190 were killed across the country on Tuesday alone, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Assad's key ally Russia says it's 'not concerned' about his fate
Also Wednesday, the head of Syria's military police changed sides and declared allegiance to the anti-Assad revolt.
"I am General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal, head of the military police. I have defected because of the deviation of the army from its primary duty of protecting the country and its transformation into gangs of killing and destruction," the officer said in a video published on YouTube.
Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com
A Syrian security source confirmed the defection, but said Shalal was near retirement and had only defected to "play hero."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
America. A shining beacon for freedom.
Leading the way.
New an improved America.
Don't take a political risk.
Watch the children die.
Change that you can believe in sucks.
And just exactly would you have us do genius...invade perhaps?
What an idiot!
Let's just sit back and wait for the Russians to fix everything.
That's the American way.
I'm sure they will stop the slaughter of unarmed citizens.
Only change I wish is: Go Assad, Go Assad and kill as many Sunni Syrian rebels and their hating and killing pals like al Qaida, Muslim Bloodhounds, Salaffi and other Sunnis.
Shiites should attack Sunnis in all Muslim majority nations starting from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Pakistan and all places.
Why are Shiites taking kicks all over?
Shiites only control 4 countries.
They know they are out numbered and out gunned and out spent.
If only they had a nuke or 2.
Barack clearly favors Sunnis. All the way back to his Sunni step dad and his Sunni up bringing and Sunni education.
This is like Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair....
The Islamist insurgency will continue until the Islamists get their way. They are worse butchers than Assad. West should be helping Assad reform the current government to include secular opposition. Otherwise Syria will become another haven for all sorts of Islamic terrorists.
We don't have a dog in that hunt. That's why we don't send our troops into harm's way.
Syria has been Russia's most steady friend in the ME. They need them and they need stability there. They really don't like Islamic Radical (i.e. Chechnya) but may have no choice. They have done their best to secure chemical WMD's and want this resolved.
Our Administration won't take the lead in many problem areas, this is just another example of inexperience on the part of Obama. He is not a Muslim, he is an inexperienced American who had NO leadership experience before becoming POTUS. On the job training results in no leadership.
I didn't say Barack was a Muslim. I said he favors Sunnis. Is that not correct?
MC Gusto, Could we end the war we are currently fighting before you launch the next? World policeman? NO NO NO NO. Russia has the most influence there. It was a French colony and once part of Turkey. Let them clean up the mess they made of things there. BTW haven't you heard "We're broke".
MC Gusto it was General Petraeus who made the move to ally with Sunnis because their militias were already fighting against our enemies, the move was a critical turning point in both the recent wars, he also did it in 2004 while George W. Bush was in office. You're alive during these wars so you have no excuses for being so uneducated on them. So to answer your question, it's not correct. It is partially correct since Obama chose to continue with the military strategy instead of changing it, but partialy correct is still incorrect.
If Russia was smart they would extend the stay of Assad's Diplomats in Russia until a solution in Syria was reached. Of course Assad's Diplomats would be afforded the best that Russian comfort could afford so that they can remain safe and well welcomed guests of Russia during the negotiation process.
Let them eat caviar...
Besides I don't see why Russia and American forces aren't pushing on Istanbul. After all it was the center of the spice trade and was captured by Mehmet.
I would have to say that if any solution to the problems in the Middle East are to take place then Istanbul should be returned to its previous owners instead of the Islamists that currently occupy its walls.
Also Kurds, who have been going through genocides, must get their Kurdistan.
Turks should kick out that seventh century bigoted Islamist Erdogan and his party.
"Syrian President Bashar Assad dispatched senior diplomats to Moscow on Wednesday to discuss proposals made by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to end the 21-month-old conflict gripping Syria, Syrian and Lebanese sources said."
Sunni Syrian rebels are supported by the most extremist one-way Saudi version of most hating and killing barbaric and beastly Sunni fronts like Muslim Bloodhounds, Salaffi, al Qaida and other label ones.
They will be bad for Christians, females, sane Muslims, Kurds and other minorities.
Assad should not trust Syrian rebel leaders.
Assad and his forces should eliminate all the Sunni Syrian rebels and he should teach them a lesson not to be so bigoted.
Assad is a butcher and should be roasted like a burnt hot dog over a firery campfire. His future is death and it will be soon.
Both sides have butchered. We have seen the exodus and butchery of hundreds of thousands of Christians Buddhists and other ethnic groups by hell bent Islamic groups. They are now turning on each other.
fight for freedom: Happy holidays!
Hope next year will be better in all senses.
@Jonathan - Assad and his Army, now basically killing machines, have to go. More and more Army personnel are defecting, which should tell Assad something. That is if he understands it.
I believe the people dispatched to Russia are looking for a way to get Assad out of the country safely, along with his family and the riches that have been stolen from the Syrians. The leaders of the insurrection should understand that the rights of all the people have to be guaranteed. I hope they do and believe they do or another civil war will erupt. That would only hurt the people of that country more.
Again, Assad has to go. This has been going on too long, too many innocents have been murdered.
There really isn't a good solution, that I can agree with. However, the first step would be for Assad to leave, then a vote, monitored by real monitors to make sure the vote is real. Then, and only then would the Syrian people, all of them and all of the various faiths, have a say in the new government.
Hope you remember what went on in Eygpt and Libya!
Ah, Come On! Saudi Arabia is salivating at the mouth to take over Syria & add it to their expanding Muslim Kingdom with Egypt, Libya, & Iraq.
.
The Syrian rebels would rather keep getting more people killed rather than find a peaceful way out of the mess.
NO matter who wins, the winner will be stupid.
.
In Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of Christians, females, Kurds and other minorities will be unbearable.
Sunni Syrian rebels are more dangerous to Syria and world than Assad and co.
Here Hezbollah's role has been disgraceful. They should have attacked Sunnis in Lebanon and border areas.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially House of Saud and other Sunni ME rulers inspired and funded Sunni Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Libya, Yemen, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
In Egypt, the Sunni extremists with labels like Salaffi and MB (Muslim Blood hounds) are opening up new chapters of Islamic bigotry. Morsi is just a front for them.
Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
Pakis and Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations are responsible for 80 percent of world problems including economic ones. Examine the devastations with Iraqi wars and now sanctions on Iranian oil and the resultant oil price manipulations.
They are making the lives of their own people also miserable by their Islamic religious madness to the intolerable levels.
Are we not committing hara-kiri by supporting our enemies and killers?
Jonathan you ask the question are we committing hara kiri by supporting our enemies. I have suspected for a long time that this destabilization has been the elites agenda all along. I believe they want to push the buttons until most of the ME is fighting each other. They know too well that when the dust settles the people will be starving weak and desperate but most of all submissive. As long as containment is possible I believe they will continue to support the destabilization of the world. By containment I mean as long as it does not affect them.
As you know Jonathan Saudi Arabia is a big invester in US weapons manufacturing. It is in their interest to promote war.
fight for freedom: Whatever may be the wish of one-way street beastly and barbaric House of Saud, most of the Sunni rulers are going to be eliminated in wars of their own making.
I wish most of barbaric and beastly Sunni rulers make Muslims kill each other as many as possible and the remaining go back to their desert camel days for the mess they have invented in the US, Britain, Europe and other nations.
These people are a disaster and do not merit the loss of even one US military casualty, I say let Russia deal with it.
Dear Phil. Thank you. An actual post where someone is thinking. This is none of our business.
Russians and Chinese are quite smart.
They cheer from the sides and vanish when their friends start losing unlike us.
In our case, we get into the business of saving by sending poor soldiers to wars!
Did you not hear the type of stories about Russians' help to Saddam in Iraq?
How many Russians were found when NATO forces invaded Iraq?
they are fighting terrorism? were they fighting terrorism when they were shooting at will killing many, of the peaceful non armed demonstrators? they brought this into themselves, the real terrorists have become the terrorized! and nobody weeps for it!
Assad remains in denial of the fact he won't play a part in any future Syrian government.
This sounds like what Castro did before he took over Cuba. And he didn't even thank the US for helping him do it.
The Israelis are freaking out. They can't handle a middle east without the required dictators!
It's just going to be a big ole catastrophe -- make for some reality TV with a capitol REAL...
...Any "settlement" that leaves Assad or his agents in power is a death sentence for the rebels. They know it, even if many "diplomats" do not.
...The Japanese tried to negotiate the end of WWII through the Soviets. They did not know that the Soviets were preparing to attack Japanese forces. The Japanese "peace feelers" were hopelessly inadequate by July 1945. They wanted to pull out of conquered territories on their own schedule (China by the 1960s), they demanded to try their own war criminals... and many other demands that would not have flown in 1942, let alone 1945.
...Assad's best hope is that the Russians have a lot to lose if he goes under. Maybe they will "attempt to broker a peace" and then try to get the world to condemn the rebels for not walking into the trap...
This whole thing will be settled on Facebook.
Diplomats and politicians having talks about an end to the conflict. Put those diplomats and politicians on the front lines and they'll have a solution within hours. Remember Vietnam, where the diplomats and politicians couldn't even agree on the size of the conference table and who should sit where. All the while our troops were dying by the day. No faith here.
Anyone seen Hillary?
Isn't it past time for her to wag her finger at Assad and tell it him it is time to step down?
Did Hillary resign?
Did Assad outlast her?
Hillary will not wag a finger at such dashing and progressive reformer as Assad.
Assad's representatives are in Russia, but they're not discussing an end to the civil war. They are buying more SCUD missiles and more ammunition. Assad won't quit until he can get all his family and gold out of Syria and safely into some country where he won't be taxed on all that gold.
Cut the head off the serpent, and the tail will also fall.
As bad ss this seems,Ibelieve our direct intervention would be a losing enterprise for all concerned. we should be preparing for relief actions by the UN if possible later.
We should help Syrian rebels pronto, because Syrian people deserve same freedoms and hapiness gained by their brothers in Egypt. Er, ah, or never mind.
No way will the Syrian rebels allow a quiet, peaceful change of regime. They have tasted blood for too long due to Assad's reckless behavior and these rebels will not be able to be controlled. They have made it clear that Assad must go and they wont stand by while he just departs the country. There will be retribution against anyone who stood against the rebels esp since the extremist groups cant be controlled either. They are like animals in a rage and will not be satisfied until they can execute and torture as many of Assad's supporters as they can find.
I do not support Assad, and I do not support the "rebels" who now boast of being from many areas around the world; stating Islam has no borders............. However, I support protecting the innocent people in any way possible.
What have we created, the "rebels" post a video of having nerve gas...... Many of them do not like the U.S., and what happens if they discharge this in the subways of New York City......... It seems these possible happenings are even worse of the U.S., who originally supported and assisted Osama Bin Laden......... Humbly I can only ask, what is the game plan, where is the ending point for the results desired?
The Best of the New Year to all, who Worship Our Creator, in their manner of Worship.