The United Nations peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi kicked off his visit to Lebanon on Friday by meeting President Michel Sleiman at the Baabda Palace.
Following the meeting, Brahimi said that no date has yet been set for the Geneva 2 conference, adding that his visit to the region aims at calling on both the Syrian government and the opposition to attend the peace talks set to take place in Geneva later this month, as well as assessing Syria's neighboring countries stance in this regard.
Brahimi also ruled out the possibility of a military intervention in Syria.
Brahimi then met with Speaker Nabih Berri at Ain el-Tineh, expressing his appreciation to Lebanon's role in terms of its response to the repercussions of the Syrian crisis.
The UN envoy then held talks with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail.
Following the meeting, Brahimi said that he briefed Lebanese officials over the preparations of the Geneva 2 conference, adding that both the Syrian government and the opposition are willing to attend the talks without prior conditions.
He also denied that any invitation had been to the Islamic State Of Iraq And Al-Sham group (ISIS) to attend the conference, adding that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will set a date for the conference in the upcoming days.
Brahimi also met with caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour.
Following the meeting, Mansour ruled out a military intervention in Syria to put an end for the ongoing crisis, adding that only a political solution is needed.
He also noted that world powers must deploy their utmost efforts to ensure the success of the Geneva 2 conference. For his part, Brahimi reiterated the need for political solution for Syria's crisis, adding that world powers must cooperate to reach a common grounds over in the Geneva 2 talks.
The UN peace envoy arrived on Friday to Lebanon coming from Damascus.
In this context, a senior Lebanese source told as-Safir Daily that Brahimi’s tour to the region and his visit to Lebanon comes within the framework of preparing a report to be submitted to the United Nations, according to which the course of the Geneva II peace talks will be determined.
The source explained that “Brahimi is not visiting Lebanon to invite the officials to attend the conference, but to ask them whether or not they will attend in case they were invited.”
World powers are pushing for a peace conference bringing both sides of the Syrian civil war to the table in Geneva later this month.
More than 120,000 people have been killed in the nearly three-year-old conflict, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog that closely monitors the violence in Syria through a network of activists across the country.
The U.N. said in July that 100,000 Syrians have been killed, and has not updated that figure since. Millions of Syrians have been uprooted from their homes because of the fighting.
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