Al-Ibrahimi affirms aggravation of crisis in Syria

The UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Al-Ibrahimi affirmed here on Thursday that Syria is going through big crisis since the conflict started a year ago, and that it is still aggravating ever since. "We came to Syria for consultation with the brotherly Syrians. There is a crisis and I think it is deteriorating," Al-Ibrahimi told Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). He added that no one disagrees with the need to stop the bloodshed and restore harmony among the people in Syria. In the same context, Al-Ibrahimi met later with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem and held talks on development of the situation in Syria, as well as ways of solving it. "Al-Muallem welcomed Al-Ibrahimi and stressed Syria's full cooperation with him to make his mission succeed," a foreign ministry statement said, adding that Al-Muallem noted to Al-Ibrahimi that "in spite of the difficulty of his mission, the success of his good offices is based on how serious some states, which tasked him with the mission, and how credible these states are in helping Syria." The statement indicated that the two sides reviewed the Syrian situation, as Al-Muallem stressed that the essential compass for any initiative is the interest of the Syrian people and its independent decision without any foreign interference. Moreover, it pointed out that Al-Ibrahimi is to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad tomorrow and other senior officials in the Syrian government, as well as number of individuals from the Syrian opposition. Earlier in the day, Al-Ibrahimi arrived in the Syrian capital in his first visit to the country since taking his post.