Iran’s FM, Outgoing UN Syria Envoy Meet in Algeria
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and resigning UN-Arab League Special Envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi in a meeting in Algiers reiterated the need for peaceful resolution of the conflicts in the Muslim world.
The bilateral meeting took place on Tuesday evening on the sidelines of a ministerial conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the African country.
During the meeting, Zarif and Brahimi, who has recently resigned as the UN envoy, discussed the latest developments in the Islamic world as well as the prolonged crisis in Syria, the conditions in Palestine, and the issues pertaining to the 17th NAM summit, due to be held in Venezuela next year.
On May 13, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that international Syria mediator Brahimi will step down from the role on May 31.
The UN chief added that the Algerian diplomat faced "almost impossible odds" in ending the conflict in Syria.
Syria's war that started in 2011 has killed over 130,000 people so far and forced more than 2 million to flee abroad. Another 4 million have been displaced inside the country.
Iranian officials have on different occasions insisted that a political approach would be the sole solution to the three-year-old crisis in Syria, saying that campaign against terrorism should be top on the agenda of any regional or international conference on Syria.
