U.N. envoy meets with Syria’s Assad

BEIRUT – The international envoy to Syria said after talks with the country’s leader Monday that the situation was “worrying” and gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.

Lakhdar Brahimi’s mission came as activists reported intense fighting in the central province of Hama, where anti-government gunmen entered the predominantly Alawite town of Maan. Assad’s regime is dominated by members of his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while most of the rebels are Sunni Muslims.

Brahimi said he and President Bashar Assad exchanged views on the crisis and discussed possible steps forward, which he did not disclose.

“The situation in Syria is still worrying and we hope that all the parties will go toward the solution that the Syrian people are hoping for and look forward to,” Brahimi said.

Syria’s state news agency quoted Assad as saying his government supports “any effort in the interest of the Syrian people which preserves the homeland’s sovereignty and independence.”

Brahimi has apparently made little progress toward brokering an end to the conflict since starting his job in September, primarily because both sides adamantly refuse to talk to each other. The government describes the rebels as foreign-backed terrorists set on destroying the country. The opposition says forces under Assad’s command have killed too many people for him to be part of any solution.

It was Brahimi’s third visit to Damascus as an envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted activists in the central city of Homs as saying that six rebels died in two neighborhoods Sunday night after inhaling white smoke that came out of shells fired on the area.

“We demand that an international team be sent to the area to investigate the type” of the shells used, said Observatory chief Rami Abdul-Rahman.

Reports by anti-regime activists about a government airstrike Sunday in the rebel-held central town of Halfaya that killed scores of people also cast a pall over Brahimi’s visit.

The Observatory said it had collected the names of 40 men and three women killed in Halfaya. The group also reported seeing photos of the dead bodies of 15 more unknown men.