UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was in Baghdad Monday on the next leg of a regional tour to build support for talks aimed at ending the Syrian crisis

UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was in Baghdad Monday on the next leg of a regional tour to build support for talks aimed at ending the Syrian crisis, the foreign ministry said.
  
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met Brahimi at the airport, a statement on the foreign ministry's website said, without providing further details. An Iraqi foreign ministry official told AFP that Brahimi soon after arriving went into talks with Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
  
Brahimi met with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo on Sunday, and was also due to visit Iran, Qatar and Turkey and possibly Syria during his regional tour.
  
The main National Coalition opposition bloc said members will decide in the coming days whether to attend next month's expected peace talks in Geneva, while the Syrian National Council, a key coalition member, has threatened to quit if they do.

Brahimi: Syria Facing Threat of Somalization

“Syria where a civil war is still going on and where people are being killed every day is facing the threat of Somalization,” Brahimi said in an interview with the “Jeune Afrique” magazine that was released today.

There can’t be any winner in the war in Syria, Lahdar Brahimi stressed. Brahimi dwelt on the Islamists’ role in the Syrian crisis. There are two types of Islamists, he said . Some of them are actively searching for peace, while others - for example, the members of the Jabhat al Nusra Group, are linked with al-Qaeda and are determined to overthrow the ruling Syrian regime, he pointed out.

The Islamists linked with al-Qaeda are fighting for the establishment of the Islamic state, the joint UN-Arab League envoy stressed, adding that the Geneva -2 conference is not interested in the participation of such Islamists, according to Voice of Russia.

Speaking about Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, Brahimi said that, as it seems to him, the current Syrian Head of State can make a useful contribution to Syria’s transition from the former to the new republic. The Geneva -2 conference will be only the first step on this way that will surely take time, Brahimi stressed.

Brahimi said that during his visit to New York some time ago he discussed a whole package of Syrian problems with the Iranian President and also with the Iranian Foreign Minister. Tehran’s stand is clear: the Iranians are sure that the use of force will not be helpful in the settlement of the Syrian conflict.