U.N. envoy isn’t optimistic about end to violence

UNITED NATIONS — Syria’s civil war is worsening and there is no prospect of a quick end to the violence, international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Monday in a gloomy assessment to the Security Council.

The new envoy leavened his message, however, saying he was crafting a new plan that he hoped could break the impasse. Despite President Bashar Assad’s refusal to end his family’s 40-year grip on power, some tentative hope of a solution remained, Brahimi said in his first briefing to the council since he took over from Kofi Annan on Sept. 1 as the U.N.-Arab League special representative for Syria.

Activists claim nearly 30,000 people have died in the uprising which began in March 2011, including in attacks Monday by Syrian warplanes in the northern city of Aleppo.

Brahimi had just returned from Syria and refugee camps in Jordan and Turkey. His gloomy report of a looming food crisis, battle-damaged schools and shuttered factories, contradicted his insistence that he saw grounds for optimism, including “some signs” that the divided Syrian opposition may be moving toward unity. Brahimi said he wanted to hold further discussions before disclosing precisely what action he plans to propose. “I do not have a full plan for the moment, but I do have a few ideas,” he said.

Brahimi urged Security Council members to overcome the diplomatic deadlock that has paralyzed their ability to help end the crisis.

The Security Council is the only U.N. body that can impose global sanctions and authorize military action. Russia, Syria’s key protector, and China have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to halt the violence and open talks with his opponents.