The United Nations Security Council should intervene to end the 17-month-long Syria conflict, the leader of the Syrian opposition in exile, Abdul Basset Sayda, said on Wednesday.
“The best solution would be intervention of the UN Security Council into the Syrian conflict,” Sayda, who heads the Istanbul-based Syrian National Council (SNC), said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
The SNC delegation discussed the issue with Lavrov and “understood” Russia’s concerns over a possible UN Security Council resolution on Syria, he said.
“But we disagree” with the Russians, he added.
Wednesday’s talks came two days after Lavrov met another Syrian opposition delegation in Moscow, led by famous dissident and writer Michel Kilo.
Russia has twice vetoed UN Security Council resolutions on Syria, citing a pro-rebel bias. Syrian opposition groups, backed by Western nations and Middle Eastern allies, have accused Russia of hampering progress in resolving the Syrian conflict.
Russia says it will not allow a “Libyan scenario” in Syria, referring to a NATO military operation which helped topple Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.
Moscow has backed a peace plan for Syria proposed by the UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, but has been opposed to direct foreign intervention that could lead to the ouster of embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
