Egyptian President Mohamad Mursi says he opposes any foreign intervention in Syria, considering it as a big mistake. However he also says that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has to step down.

Egyptian President Mohamad Mursi says he opposes any foreign intervention in Syria, considering it as a big mistake. However he also says that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has to step down.

In an interview with PBS television's Charlie Rose ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, Mursi said the diplomatic quartet of Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey could help end the 18-month-old conflict.

"I am against foreign intervention by force in what happens in Syria," Mursi said. "I do not condone this and I think that it is a big mistake if it happens," he added through an interpreter. "Egypt does not agree to this."

Mursi said Arab nations should "support the people of Syria in their march toward freedom.

"President Assad has no choice but to leave," Mursi added. "There is no room for political reform. Change is what the people want, and the will of the people must be respected," he added.

"The regime should have realized that the military solution would not stop the revolution. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more could follow, so the main thing is to stop the bloodshed."

The Egyptian leader said he had brought together officials from Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in a bid to find a solution to the conflict, in which Syrian activists say more than 29,000 people have been killed.
"This is the reason why I chose these countries," Mursi said.

"You cannot solve the problem without those countries which intervene in the problem. The stakeholders are the ones who sit down together to solve the problem."

He also hoped he could bring together the heads of states of the four nations to discuss the civil war.
Mursi is to speak at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.