Syrian media lashed out yesterday at peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, accusing him of being a "pawn" of the West after he criticised a plan by President Bashar al-Assad to solve the 21-month conflict.

UN-Arab League envoy Brahimi "has taken off the mask of impartiality he has worn ever since he was appointed to take over from Kofi Annan", the pro-government Al-Watan said.

"The UN envoy exposes himself" and is acting as "a pawn to implement the policies of some Western countries and regional states on Syria", it said. "He revealed his true face, which sees the Syrian crisis in a one-sided manner, to suit his masters."

On Wednesday, Brahimi described a plan outlined last week by Assad for Syria as "perhaps even more sectarian, more one-sided" than previous such initiatives by the embattled regime.

"I told [Assad] to be certain that an initiative should be different from what has been done in the past and has not worked," Brahimi told the BBC.

"I'm afraid what has come out is very much a repeat of previous initiatives that obviously did not work."