Syria says UN envoy can only succeed if rebels lose outside support

Syria said on Monday new UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi could only make headway if outside countries ceased helping rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad and instead declared support for a UN-backed peace plan.

Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, has picked up the baton from former UN chief Kofi Annan, who drew up the six-point plan for Syria, but a ceasefire he declared on April 12 failed to take hold. Violence has worsened since then.

“The conditions for success for Lakhdar Brahimi in his mission is for specific countries – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – to announce their commitment to the six-point plan and completely stop sending weapons (to the rebels) and close borders to fighters and close fighter training camps,” Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi told a news conference in Damascus.

“The ball is not in the Syrian court, the ball is in the Saudi, Qatari, Turkish, European and US court,” he said.

Damascus verbally accepted Annan’s plan in April, but failed to implement its main call for an end to violence and a pullout of Syrian troops and heavy weapons from towns and cities.

Syria has long accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of supporting rebels during the 17-month-old anti-Assad uprising and says neighbouring Turkey allows fighters to train on its soil.