President Bashar al-Assad insisted in a meeting today with peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi that the Syrian people alone will decide the fate of a peace initiative dubbed Geneva II.
Assad also reiterated his long-standing position that in order for Syria to have peace, foreign nations must halt their support of rebels and opposition groups seeking to topple his regime, state television reported.
"The Syrian people are the only ones who have the right to decide on Syria's future, and any solution or agreement must have the acceptance of the Syrian people, and reflect their desires," Assad told Brahimi.
Brahimi's meeting with Assad comes as part of a regional tour aimed at garnering support for a US-Russian peace initiative for Syria planned next month in Geneva.
Assad also warned there must not be "any foreign intervention" in seeking a solution to Syria's civil war, in which an estimated 115,000 people have died in 31 months.
"Putting an end to support for the terrorists and pressuring the states that support them is the most important step to prepare... For dialogue," Assad said using his regime's term for rebels.
Since the start of an anti-Assad revolt in March 2011, Damascus has systematically branded the uprising-turned-rebellion as a foreign-backed plot.
"The success of any political solution is linked to putting an end to support funnelled to terrorist groups," he added.
The state television also reported that UN-Arab League envoy Brahimi as agreeing with Assad that the Syrians themselves need to find a solution to the conflict ravaging the country.
"The effort being made for the Geneva conference is focused on finding the way for the Syrians themselves to meet and to agree on solving the crisis as quickly as possible," Brahimi said in the meeting, his first with Assad since December last year.
