Brahimi begins 'difficult' mission

Peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi admitted on Monday he faces a "very difficult" task as he launched his mission to Syria, where warplanes bombed rebel zones and clashes claimed dozens more lives.

Iran said meanwhile it was joining officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for a four-way meeting in Cairo of a "contact group" proposed by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, looking at ways to calm the Syrian conflict.

In Geneva, UN leader Ban Ki-moon called for all war criminals in Syria to be brought to justice, as his human rights chief urged a probe into the slaughter of hundreds of people in the town of Daraya.

On his first trip to the region since being appointed last week, Brahimi said after meeting with Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo that he plans to visit Syria "in a few days."

"I realise it's a very difficult mission, but I think it is not my right to refuse to give whatever assistance I can to the Syrian people," Brahimi told reporters.

"I will go to Damascus in a few days and I will meet officials and civil society members in the capital and outside," he said.

Asked if he would meet Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, Brahimi said: "I hope to but I don't know."

Brahimi is due to meet with the Egyptian president and Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr later on Monday.

In the latest violence, regime warplanes blitzed a string of opposition-held districts in Aleppo a day after rebels killed dozens including troops in an attack on state buildings in the key battleground city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

At least five people were killed and an unknown number hurt when the warplanes staged waves of bombing raids from early morning, the Britain-based watchdog said.

"Many buildings were destroyed and the rebels used anti-aircraft guns" against the planes, said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

An AFP correspondent on the ground in Aleppo said the battle continued for control of a barracks in the district of Hanano in the northern city, after days of intense clashes.

The correspondent also reported intermittent fighting in the nearby neighbourhood of Bustan Al Basha and on the outskirts of Midan.

At the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN chief Ban said the international community must "ensure that anyone, on any side, who commits war crimes" or other atrocities is brought to justice.

UN rights chief 'deeply shocked'

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for her part urged an immediate probe into the Daraya massacre.

"I am deeply shocked by the reports of the massacre in Daraya and I urge an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident," she said referring to the town near Damascus late last month.

"I call on the (Syrian) government to ensure full and unhindered access to the (UN) Independent Commission of Inquiry," she said, also calling for "full support" of Brahimi.

The Observatory gave a toll of at least 27 people killed on Sunday when rebels attacked government buildings in a western district of Aleppo, near the municipal stadium.

"It appears that many soldiers were among the dead, and that there were a number of people were wounded, some of the seriously," he added.

The official SANA news agency, which blamed the attack on "terrorists," gave the same death toll and said 64 people were wounded.

Elsewhere on Monday, five civilians were killed and dozens hurt when regime forces shelled rebel areas of Damascus near Sayeda Zeinab, an important Shiite pilgrimage shrine, the Observatory said.

Deadly violence also flared in Daraa province, where a mother and her child were killed, as well as in the central province of Hama, the Observatory said, giving an initial toll of 21 people killed nationwide so far on Monday.

More than 27,000 to have died since the uprising against the Assad regime began in March last year, according to the Observatory. The United Nations puts the overall death toll at 20,000.

The international community has struggled to find common ground on ways to halt the bloodshed, with Russia and China vetoing three UN Security Council resolutions providing for sanctions against the Assad regime.

As an alternative, Egypt's President Morsi proposed the formation of a regional "contact group" on Syria, during a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation last month.

An Iranian deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, had left Tehran for Cairo to take part in the meeting, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Iran's Al-Alam Arabic-language broadcaster on Monday.

"Iran's participation in this meeting is within the framework of solving the Syrian crisis and to listening to the Egyptian proposal. Iran will use this opportunity to provide its views, in addition to those of the other countries to this group," Mehmanparast said.

The chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, Aladin Borujerdi, was quoted by Al-Alam as saying that Iran wanted to see the contact group expanded to give it "better balance," suggesting Iraq.

Egyptian officials were not immediately available to confirm the meeting.

Currently, Iran is the odd country out in the contact group, being a staunch supporter of Assad's regime whereas the three other states back the Syrian opposition and have called for Assad's ouster.

 

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