The UN envoy Koffi Annan has said that the international work group on Syria reached agreement to help solving the crisis in Syria through a political process led by the Syrians themselves through a comprehensive national dialogue and in an atmosphere of calm requiring the disarmament of the armed gangs.

The UN envoy said: “We are determined to work jointly and intensively to put an end to violence and launch a process led by Syria leading to a transitional operation fulfilling the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and enabling it to decide its own future independently)”

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on his part, asserted that the document issued by the Geneva conference contained no imposed pre-conditions on the political process or the national dialogue in Syria, nor does it exclude any party.

In a press conference following the meeting of the international work group about Syria yesterday, Mr. Lavrov pointed out that Russia rejected any pre-conditions. It was able to unite this attitude with its partners in order to exert pressure on all parties.

In his reply to Hillary Clinton, Mr. Lavrov said that the document sent a clear message to the Syrian government and the armed groups about the necessity to implement the Anan plan clearly and to stop all armed activities, in addition to supporting the UN mission in Syria in order to achieve stability. Lavrov said Russia had enough facts proving that the armed groups and those who support and financed them are not carrying out their obligations.

He stated: " They are provoking the Syrian government and forces to retaliate. Everybody should exert positive influence on all parties, especially the armed groups to implement the Anan plan. Some armed groups and their supporters are spreading violence and attacking administrative institutions, government property and the army and police. The armed groups also prevented the efforts of the Red Cross to rescue innocent civilians stuck in various towns and villages. We cannot call for the exist of government forces while the armed groups continued to receive weapons. These weapons come to them through illegal and illegitimate means. Lavrov added that the crisis in Syria has a media dimension. Some TV channels continue to transmit pictures taken by mobile phones without being sure of the identity of these pictures. Many reporters in Al Jazeera resigned in protest against its way of giving a distorted image of events in Syria. There was a vicious attack on the Syrian News TV Channel.

Regarding the “freedom of opinion” and the armed groups’ targeting the Syrian “Akabarea” news station in Damascus the Russian FM said:  I asked my colleagues in the work group about their opinion of the blocking of the transmission of the Syrian TV Space Channels, but I got no reply, although members of the EU never stop talking about the freedom of expression and the freedom of reporters to get information.

The Chinese attitude was similar to that of Russia. The Chinese Foreign Minister asserted that the agreement reached in Geneva assumed great importance to consolidate the process of a political solution of the crisis in Syria.

He added that the transitional plan in Syria can only be carried out by the Syrians themselves, with the approval of all significant parties. Nobody from the outside could take resolutions concerning the Syrian people.