Brahimi Heads to Syria for Assad Talks

An Arab League diplomat announced on Wednesday that U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi would head for Damascus on Thursday and meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad the following day, but gave no further details.

The international envoy, replacing former U.N. chief Kofi Annan who quit in August over U.N. Security Council divisions on the conflict that has gripped Syria for nearly 18 months, kicked off his peace mission with talks in Cairo.

On Tuesday, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Brahimi would meet Assad in Damascus and insisted that "the violence must stop by both sides."

He told reporters in Bern that he understood the frustration felt by many in the face of the Security Council's apparent paralysis in dealing with the spiraling crisis.

But "while we may be frustrated and troubled by not being able to address the situation in Syria, which has reached intolerable circumstances", he said, "we should not be overly pessimistic about the strength and the commitment of the international community, especially the international organizations."

"Those countries who might have influence over two parties should exercise" that influence and work towards "a political resolution reflecting the genuine aspirations of the Syrian people," Ban added.

Coupled with the violence is the humanitarian crisis caused by the large number of people fleeing the country or displaced within its borders.

The U.N. refugee agency said the number of civilians who have fled nearly 18 months of violence has reached more than 250,000. And it says more than 1.2 million civilians, more than half of them children, have been displaced inside Syria.