UN envoy continues efforts to solve Syria crisis

DAMASCUS - The visiting international envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, continued his meetings Wednesday in Syria's capital Damascus in the hope of reaching a solution to the prolonged crisis amid nationwide ongoing violence and clashes.

The veteran diplomat met Wednesday with Chinese ambassador to Syria, Zhang Xun, who stressed the urgent need for the political solution to Syria.

International peace envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi speaks to the media after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus Dec 24, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

After his meeting with Brahimi, Zhang called on all international parties to unify efforts to bring the Syrian crisis to an end via political process, saying that "China always calls for a political solution to the Syrian crisis".

Brahimi arrived in Syria on Sunday for a week-long visit to discuss the development of the crisis with Syrian officials and opposition figures.

After meeting with President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, Brahimi said he discussed the steps that he thinks would work to solve the crisis.

Media leaks said Brahimi's new plan focuses on a transitional government in Syria that would combine representatives of the opposition and the al-Assad administration.

While the diplomatic efforts are still in full swing, the violence in Syria continued on ground with reports of fighting between rebels and government troops in several areas nationwide.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency said Wednesday that the Syrian army has killed and wounded many "terrorists" who have tried to sneak into Syria from Lebanon at Joussyeh site in the outskirts of al-Quseir in central Homs.

In the northern city of Idlib, SANA said the army has carried out several military operations against the rebels, destroying a warehouse and killed scores of them.

It added that the army also clashed with rebel fighters at Arab Said Town in the outskirts of Idlib and killed six of them.

In the northeastern city of Raqqa, SANA said that competent authorities have clashed with a "terrorist group" that tried to seize three diesel fuel trucks and killed one of them.

On the opposition side, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based activists' network, posted a video footage of what it said an ambush setup by jihadists affiliated with al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of al-Qaida, against government troops in the suburbs of the central province of Hama.

It said the jihadist fighters targeted a military truck in the al-Zaghba village in the countryside of Hama last Friday.

In the footage, dozens of corpses were seen scattered on ground as the person who was recording reported that the number of casualties exceeded 50.

The London-based activists' network also posted a video showing rebels stormed the house of the mayor of Khanser town in the northern province of Aleppo. The fate of the mayor remains unknown.

It said more than 20 people were killed by the government's bombardment on the farms of al-Qahtaniya village in the northern province of al-Raqqa. It said the dead include eight children and three women, adding that the government troops have also bombarded the villages of Mazra'at Ya'rub and Rabi'a in the same province.

The activists' reports couldn't be checked independently.

The prolonged Syrian crisis has rendered all political efforts flat and killed more than 40,000 people, according to activists.