Annan starts Syria mission

Kofi Annan

Former UN chief Kofi Annan held crux talks in Damascus on Saturday with the hopes of the world pinned on his bid to prevent a nearly year-old uprising spiralling into all-out civil war.
State media reported the start of talks between President Bashar al-Assad and Annan, on his first visit since being named international envoy on the conflict.
President Bashar al-Assad told UN/Arab League envoy Kofi Annan that no political solution was possible in Syria while "terrorist" groups were destabilizing the country.
"Syria is ready to make a success of any honest effort to find a solution for the events it is witnessing," state news agency SANA quoted Assad as telling his guest.
"No political dialogue or political activity can succeed while there are armed terrorist groups operating and spreading chaos and instability," the Syrian leader said after about two hours of talks with the former UN secretary-general.
There was no immediate comment from Annan after the meeting, aimed at halting bloodshed that has cost thousands of lives since a popular uprising erupted a year ago.
It came as a human rights group reported fierce shelling of Idlib in northwest Syria and a day after another 70 civilians were killed in the regime's crackdown on dissent.
Sixteen rebel fighters, seven soldiers and four civilians were killed in the Idlib fighting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said 15 other people, including three soldiers, had been killed in violence elsewhere.
Human rights watchdogs say the conflict has cost more than 8,500 lives since last March.
Emissary of the United Nations and the Arab League, Annan has the support of Damascus allies Beijing and Moscow and his mission has been welcomed by the both the Syrian government and opposition.
But Russia said its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made clear to Annan at a meeting earlier in Cairo that Moscow was opposed to "crude interference" in Syria's affairs.
His call was echoed by EU foreign ministers.
They warned against the temptation of military intervention in Syria despite the growing human suffering, saying boots on the ground could ignite "a large-scale fire".
Germany's Guido Westerwelle, arriving for talks with his European Union counterparts, said any talk of military intervention was "counterproductive".
However Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani yesterday told a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that it was time to send Arab and foreign troops to conflict-stricken Syria.
Annan's visit comes a day after UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos left Damascus following a hard-won but troubled mission to secure relief access to protest centres such as Syria's third-largest city Homs.