CAIRO: Diplomats from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt held Monday the first gathering of a quartet of regional heavyweights aiming to work out a resolution for Syria’s unrest.
 
The quartet is an initiative put forward by Egypt’s new president aiming to bring together key supporters of the Syrian rebellion – Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Egypt itself – with Iran, the biggest regional ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
 
Syria’s bloody 17-month conflict, which activists say has killed at least 27,000 people, has so far stymied attempts at international mediation.
 
The sessions that began Monday were among diplomats preparing for a possible higher-level meeting of the four country’s foreign ministers later, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said.
 
The quartet is aimed at “stopping the bloodshed by launching a political process designed to achieve the aspirations of the Syrian people for freedom and dignity,” the ministry said.
 
The new U.N. envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, is heading to Damascus this week, tasked with brokering a diplomatic solution.
 
The peace plan of his predecessor, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, collapsed, and Annan stepped down in frustration.
 
The new quartet may also have trouble reaching common ground. Sunni-led Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have called on Assad to step down, while Shiite Iran has firmly stood by Assad. Saudi Arabia and Iran are also bitter rivals with long-standing disagreements over Gulf security issues.
 
In Cairo for talks ahead of his trip to Syria, Brahimi met with Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammad Kamel Amr and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby Monday.
 
Mursi, who came to power as a result of his country’s own Arab Spring uprising, proposed the four-nation contact group during a conference of Muslim nations in Saudi Arabia last month.
 
Brahimi admitted Monday he faces a “very difficult” task as he launched his mission to Syria, where warplanes bombed rebel zones and clashes claimed dozens more lives.
 
“I realize it’s a very difficult mission, but I think it is not my right to refuse to give whatever assistance I can to the Syrian people,” Brahimi told reporters after his meeting with Elaraby. “I will go to Damascus in a few days and I will meet officials and civil society members in the capital and outside.”
 
Asked if he would meet Syria’s President Assad, Brahimi said: “I hope to but I don’t know.”
 
Mursi appears to be hoping that bringing Iran into the quartet can eventually sway it to accept an alternative to Assad and put its weight behind a peace initiative. Last month, he went to Tehran for an international conference and gave a full-throated call for the world to back the Syrian opposition, startling his Iranian hosts.
 
Egypt is hoping the group can find consensus on an initiative calling for an immediate end to violence, maintaining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria, supporting Brahimi’s mission and launching a political process with various spectrums of Syrian society, the ministry said in a statement.
 
Similarly, Annan’s peace plan was centered on a cease-fire that was supposed to open the way to political dialogue. But the fighting never stopped.
 
In remarks published Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Assad’s government remains “solid” and is still backed by many Syrians who fear those who could take his place.
 
Bogdanov, who is also the Kremlin’s special envoy for Middle East affairs, told Le Figaro newspaper that Assad had promised Russia he would be ready to step aside if Syrians chose another leader in an election, although he could not say how “sincere” the Syrian leader was.
 
“Assad told us himself. But I don’t know how sincere he is,” Bogdanov said. “But he clearly told us that if the people didn’t want him, and if they chose a different leader in an election, he would go.
 
“The regime is still solid. It is getting important support from the population.
 
“This support is not motivated by the Syrians’ love of Bashar Assad, but more their fear of those who could succeed him,” he said after meeting Syrian dissidents in Paris.
 
He said Russia is proposing the organization of a conference bringing together “all the players” of the deadly Syria conflict, including opposition groups, citizens and the ruling regime.
 
“We are proposing to our Western partners the organization of a ‘Taif conference’ between all the players of the conflict,” Bogdanov said.
 
He was referring to an agreement signed in the Saudi city that brought the end of Lebanon’s Civil War in 1990.
 
“This conference should bring together opposition and regime figures as well as Christian, Alawite and Druze community members,” he added.
 
According to Le Figaro, the Russian official was in Paris over the weekend, where he met French diplomats and Syrian opposition figures.
 
At the 21st session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva Monday, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said the international community must “ensure that anyone, on any side, who commits war crimes” or other atrocities is brought to justice.
 
Ban called on all nations, including the 47 that are members of the Geneva-based council, to unite behind the efforts of Brahimi, but also to “maintain its vigilance on Syria, including on the question of accountability” for suspected abuses.
 
“I commend the council for acting quickly in response to the crisis in Syria,” Ban told the Human Rights Council, referring to special sessions in Geneva that condemned the violence, set up independent probes and recommended strong action to end the Syrian hostilities that have escalated since March 2011.
 
“While the Security Council has been divided on the situation, the General Assembly and this council have acted. I welcome this stepped-up engagement. I regret that your recommendations were not followed up by other relevant United Nations organs.”
 
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged an immediate probe into the deaths in Daraya, near Damascus.
 
“I am deeply shocked by the reports of the massacre in Daraya and I urge an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident,” she said, referring to the town near Damascus where the killings occurred late last month.
 
“I call on the [Syrian] government to ensure full and unhindered access to the [U.N.] Independent Commission of Inquiry,” she said, also calling for “full support” of Brahimi.
 
The international community has struggled to find common ground on ways to halt the bloodshed, with Russia and China vetoing three U.N. Security Council resolutions providing for sanctions against the Assad regime.
 
Meanwhile, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said the “Friends of Syria” group is to meet in the Netherlands next week to broaden the scope of sanctions and sharpen specific measures against the Damascus regime.
 
The Sept. 20 meeting comes after the European Union agreed Saturday on the need to beef up sanctions against Assad’s inner circle.
 
“The meeting aims to adopt sanctions against Bashar Assad’s regime by a growing number of countries,” the ministry statement said. “The application of such measures in the financial sector will be one of the main topics of discussion.”
 
Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal will open the meeting, to be attended by “around 50 to 60 nations, including Syria’s neighbors and Arab League representatives,” the statement said.