Summary

Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib urged President Bashar Assad’s government Monday to start talks for its departure from power and save the country from greater ruin after almost two years of bloodshed.

Seeking to step up pressure on Assad to respond to his offer of talks – which dismayed some in his own opposition coalition, Khatib said he would be ready to meet the president’s deputy.

Speaking after meeting senior Russian, U.S. and Iranian officials, Khatib said none of them had an answer to the 22-month-old crisis and Syrians must solve it themselves.

Khatib said it was not “treachery” to seek dialogue to end a conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed, 700,000 have been driven from their country and millions more are homeless and hungry.

Another Iranian official, speaking in Damascus after talks with Assad, said that Israel would regret an airstrike against Syria last week, without spelling out whether Iran or its ally planned a military response.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Feb-05/205056-khatib-offers-assad-peaceful-exit.ashx#ixzz2K0LkD0yL
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)