(March 10.2012) The UN and Arab League special envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan. former
UN Secretary General, was in Damascus for talks for possible negotiations with President
Bashar al-Assad for a political solution to the civil war.. Annan will remain in
the capital for 24 hours. Friday, violence around the country left more than 80 dead.
However, the Syrian National Council (SNC) has already defined this visit a "waste
of time", if there is no military pressure on the Assad government. On the eve of
his mission, in fact, the former Secretary General of the United Nations has asked
both sides to stop all violence and sit at the negotiating table, adding that the
"militarization" of the conflict can only make the situation worse. At the moment,
however, the search for a political solution to the Syrian crisis does not seem to
find many supporters. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (a group
of opposition activists, based in London), at least half of the 80 dead on Friday
were victims of a raid near the provincial government of Idlib. Located north of Homs,
the main center of rebels, Idlib is seen as the next target for military troops, after
the battle for Baba Amr. Protests yesterday also marked the anniversary of the Kurdish
revolt in Syria in 2004, in which 30 people were killed. Thousands of Kurds demonstrated
in the cities of the northeast, showing placards that read "Save the Syrian people.".
In more than a year of violence, the UN estimates that at least 7,500 people have
died in clashes between soldiers and rebels.