U.N. Arab League deputy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, speaks during a press conference after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, at the government palace, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012. Brahimi is in Beirut to meet with Lebanese officials.BEIRUT – The international envoy to the Syrian conflict on Wednesday called on President Bashar Assad’s regime to take the lead in implementing a cease-fire during a major Muslim holiday later this month.
Lakhdar Brahimi said rebel representatives have assured him they will also observe the truce if the government takes the first step.
“The Syrian people are burying hundreds of people each day, so if they bury fewer people during the days of the holiday, this could be the start of Syria’s return from the dangerous situation that it … is continuing to slip toward,” he told reporters in Beirut.
Brahimi’s push to get Assad and rebels seeking to topple him to stop fighting for the four-day Eid al-Adha feast set to begin Oct. 26 reflects how little progress international diplomacy has made in halting 19 months of deadly violence in Syria. Activists say more than 33,000 people have been killed.
Unlike his predecessor as joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, Brahimi has said he has no grand plan to end Syria’s civil war. Instead, he presented the truce as a “microscopic” step that would alleviate Syrian sorrow temporarily and provide the basis for a longer truce.