Ahmadinejad, UN Envoy Call for Cessation of Hostilities in Syria

At the meeting here in Tehran on Sunday, Ahmadinejad said that the Syrian nation will be able to hold a fair election as soon as the country gets rid of foreign meddling.

"Unrest in Syria means expansion of insecurity in the whole region, and any attempt to disintegrate Syria means constant instability for decades, due to tribal structure of the Syrian society," he added.

"Islamic Republic of Iran categorically believes that electing the leaders, freedom and justice are the right of the nations and no one can tell the nations what do in this regard," President Ahmadinejad said.

Brahimi, for his part, said that Tehran could play a crucial role in bringing the Syrian crisis to an end, and called for Iran's help for bringing stability and security in Syria on the basis of national compromise and reconciliation.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes. The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.

The US daily, Washington Post, reported in May that the Syrian rebels and terrorist groups battling the President Bashar al-Assad's government have received significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and coordinated by the United States.

The newspaper, quoting opposition activists and US and foreign officials, reported that Obama administration officials emphasized the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the Persian Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure.

According to the report, material is being stockpiled in Damascus, in Idlib near the Turkish border and in Zabadani on the Lebanese border.

Opposition activists who several months ago said the rebels were running out of ammunition said in May that the flow of weapons - most bought on the black market in neighboring countries or from elements of the Syrian military in the past - has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Persian Gulf states to provide millions of dollars in funding each month.

Lakhdar Brahimi officially took office as the UN and AL Special Envoy for Syria on September 1 when his predecessor, Kofi Annan, resigned due to the rebel and terrorist groups' continued massacre of the civilians in Syria. Annan had demanded both the Syrian government and the opposition to put down arms and start national dialogue, but after the Syrian army withdrew from crisis-hit regions, rebel and terrorist groups violated the terms of the peace initiative and refrained from ceasing fire.

Brahimi, an Algerian national who has served the UN in various high-level roles over the past two decades, has assumed the peace-facilitation role which had been carried out since February by a former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan with the aim of bringing an end to all violence in Syria, and promoting a peaceful solution to the conflict.
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