Lakhdar Brahimi’s Priorities in Syria

- Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and the Arab League’s special envoy to Syria, has started new movements with his periodical trips to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Iraq. These are his first trips to countries that can have undeniable roles in solving Syria's crisis.

- Choosing Iran as one of the destinations of his periodical trips to consult about the methods of solving Syria's crisis indicates that Lakhdar Brahimi has accepted that the problems in Syria will not be solved without the cooperation of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

- Lakhdar Brahimi attempts to find a solution to end the political crisis and the civil war in Syria while he does not enjoy the weight which Kofi Annan, the former UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, had.

- Certainly, the status and reputation of Kofi Annan, as a former UN Secretary General, is not comparable with that of Lakhdar Brahimi. But, it must not be forgotten that this Algerian diplomat has an outstanding record. 

- His record shows that he has, several times, been chosen as the special envoy of the UN and the Arab League to solve crises in different areas including Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Haiti, and South Africa.  

- Therefore, defining a new mission for Lakhdar Brahimi can increase his ability to reach a solution for Syria to come out of the present deadlock, particularly because he is Arab and, compared with Kofi Annan, has more relations with the Arabs of the region who are now one of the barriers in Syria's path to pass the present crisis. 

- On this basis, Lakhdar Brahimi chose Saudi Arabia as the first destination of his periodical trips so that he might be able to remove the main obstacle in the success of his mission.

- The UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria, by choosing Iran as one of the destinations of his periodical trips, showed that no matter who is in this position, he cannot ignore the role and status of the Islamic Republic of Iran in ending the crisis in Syria.

- Although the trips and consultations of the UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria are aimed at bringing the viewpoints of the regional players in Syria's scene closer together, he must certainly consider the issue that the key to exiting the present deadlock is not in the hands of regional players, but rather in the hands of domestic players. 

- Preparing the grounds for understanding and dialogue between the conflicting parties in the domestic scene of Syria, and attempting to convince the armed opposition of this country to leave their arms and sit behind the negotiation table with the government is, certainly, the shortcut and a basic way to end the crisis in Syria.

- The ignored point in Kofi Annan's proposed plan and his efforts for the temporary presence of peace-keeping forces in this country was the introduction of opponents who had an undeniable role in enflaming the fire of civil war in this country.

- Introducing the face of the armed opposition in Syria has certainly lifted the weight of responsibility of killing many innocent people from the shoulders of Bashar Assad's government, for now even the public opinion of the West has accepted that Syria's opposition is also responsible for the killings of the people.