Transition Plan for Syria Falters

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad talking with people inside the country. The Syrian government has accepted a peace plan peddled by former UN General Secretary Kofi Anan., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

July 1, 2012, 2:01 p.m. ET

Transition Plan for Syria Falters

By SAM DAGHER
Wall Street Journal

BEIRUT—A plan by world powers for a Syrian political transition appeared doomed Sunday, with Bashar al-Assad's regime interpreting the outcome as a fresh lifeline from Russia—its principal international backer—while the lack of any reference in the plan to Mr. Assad's departure from office angered the Syrian opposition.

With no sign of any commitment by Syria's warring sides to embrace the transition plan outlined in Geneva on Saturday, many warned that violence could worsen even beyond the levels seen in June, which is now believed to have been the bloodiest month in the Syrian conflict.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based opposition group, nearly 4,000 people, including members of the security forces, have been killed since May 26.

At the core of the latest initiative by the international community to resolve the nearly 16-month conflict, which many now describe as a civil war, is the creation by "mutual consent" of a new transitional government that would have much of the executive powers exercised by President Assad and bring together members of the current government, the opposition and other groups, according to the communiqué issued at the end of the Geneva meeting.

The meeting brought together foreign ministers from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China—as well as Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait. European Union and Arab League officials also attended.

It excluded Iran—after U.S. objection to the participation of a Syrian ally seen as aiding the regime in its domestic crackdown—and Saudi Arabia, a main supporter of Syrian political and armed opposition groups.

Kofi Annan, a former U.N. chief now serving as special envoy for the Syrian crisis, described the latest proposal as "a serious agreement on how we can help Syria at this grim and brutal time," but said everything hinged on the implementation of a cease fire, the first item of an existing U.N. and Arab League-backed six-point peace plan already in tatters.

"The bloodshed must end, and the parties must be prepared to put forward effective interlocutors to work with me toward a Syrian-led settlement," Mr. Annan said at the end of the meeting.

As of Sunday, there was no official reaction from the Syrian government to the idea of creating a new transitional government with significantly more powers, but state media outlets framed the result of the Geneva meeting as a victory for the regime and its ally Russia.

"Today we are witnessing the birth of a new school in international diplomacy," said Abdel-Hadi Nasri, a pro-regime commentator on Syrian state TV, referring to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In his news conference after the Geneva meeting, Mr. Lavrov insisted there was nothing in the proposed political plan stipulating that Mr. Assad should leave power and said his country succeeded in blocking the inclusion of language in the final communiqué that would have called for making the plan obligatory under the U.N. Chapter 7 provision.

In his remarks, Mr. Lavrov put the onus for the success of the latest initiative on the willingness of armed antiregime opposition groups to lay down their arms and for countries like the U.S., U.K., Turkey and Gulf Arab states to stop backing them.

Nadim Shehadi, an associate fellow at the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs, called the Geneva meeting "a flop" except for the opportunity it gave Russia to once more flex its muscles as a key player in Syria and the Middle East.

"The Russians are basking in their glory to have such a significant role," said Mr. Shehadi.

Radwan Ziadeh, a Washington-based senior member of the main opposition group known as the Syrian National Council, said the meeting was "irrelevant" and repeated previous calls for international intervention in Syria outside the framework of the U.N. Security Council, where Russia and China have sparred with Western powers over Syria.

Omar Idlibi, spokesman for the opposition's Local Coordination Committees, said the Geneva communiqué stood no chance of being accepted by most of the rebel groups fighting the regime inside Syria because of the absence of any reference to Mr. Assad relinquishing power or punishing anyone in the regime for crimes committed so far.

Mr. Idlibi, who spoke from the Turkish border city of Antakya, said he just spent two months inside Syria and that rebels were in control of large sections of central and northern Syria and had no incentive to compromise with the regime and were determined to fight until the end.

"We have burned the ships," he said.

Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com