UN envoy Brahimi: Syria's Assad has no interest in reforms; country in rapid decline

David Stringer, The Associated Press

The new U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria says President Bashar Assad has no intention of carrying out reforms which would end his family's 40-year dictatorship and is seeking to portray the country's uprising as a foreign conspiracy.

According to a diplomat inside Lakhdar Brahimi's closed-door briefing Monday to the U.N. Security Council, the envoy described a rapidly deteriorating country with routine torture, looming food shortages and damaged schools.

The diplomat, who demanded anonymity as they were not authorized to publicly discuss the briefing, said Brahimi believes that Assad's goal is to return his country to "the old Syria."

Russia — Syria's key protector — and China have vetoed three Western-backed Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to stop the violence and start political talks.