UN envoy to Syria Al-Akhdar Al-Ibrahimi considered there was no quick end to the ongoing crisis in Syria, warning that the situation in the conflict-hit country was worsening.

UN envoy to Syria Al-Akhdar Al-Ibrahimi considered there was no quick end to the ongoing crisis in Syria, warning that the situation in the conflict-hit country was worsening.

"There is no prospect for today or tomorrow to move forward,” Ibrahimi told reporters after briefing the 15-nation Security Council on his recent talks with Assad.
"There is no disagreement anywhere that the situation in Syria is extremely bad and getting worse, that it is a threat to the region," Ibrahimi said outside the council.

He said there are foreign fighters in Syria; with Syrian government puts the figure at 5,000.

Inside the closed meeting, he told UN envoys that "there is no safe place for those who are caught in violence, which is now engulfing almost the entire country," according to a text of his speech obtained by AFP.

"The sad truth is that a Syrian citizen, man, woman or teenager, does not need to do much these days to be picked up by one of the many security agencies," he said.

Ibrahimi outlined the desperate humanitarian struggle to help at least 1.5 million people who have fled their homes and at least 280,000 who are in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.
The envoy said that for Assad, "the aim is still to keep or return to the old Syria, even if much is said about dialogue and reform."

"Popular demand for change, not reforms, is hardly recognized by the government. The crisis is seen mainly as a foreign conspiracy engineered from abroad," he said.

On the other hand, Ibrahimi said the Syrian opposition had to unite to form a negotiating platform and the Security Council had to unite behind his mediation efforts.