Situation deteriorating in Syria, Brahimi tells UN Security Council

UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says the situation is deteriorating in Syria.

Brahimi made the remarks in New York on Monday after briefing the UN Security Council on his mid-September talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Brahimi told the Security Council that the Syrian government estimates there are 5,000 foreign fighters in the country, AFP reported.

“There is no disagreement anywhere that the situation in Syria is extremely bad and getting worse, that it is a threat to the region,” Brahimi said outside the council.

He also stated that there are food shortages as harvests have been destroyed in the fighting between government forces and insurgents, adding that 200 of Syria’s 2,200 schools have been damaged.

He estimated that 1.5 million Syrians have fled their homes due to the 18-month conflict.

In September, Brahimi visited Syria for the first time after the announcement of his appointment in mid-August.

He replaced Kofi Annan, who announced his resignation in early August, saying his job was impossible after his six-point peace plan went nowhere.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest, and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.

Western states have been calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. However, Russia and China are strongly opposed to the Western drive to oust Assad.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals, mostly from Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan.