BERLIN - Syrian President Bashar Assadsaid UN envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan to end 16 months ofbloodshed was being hindered by countries including Turkey andSaudi Arabia providing support for "terrorists."
"We know that (Annan) is coming up against countlessobstacles but his plan should not be allowed to fail, it is avery good plan," Assad told German television channel Das Erstein an interview.
"The biggest obstacle is that many countries do not evenwant this plan to succeed so they offer political support andcontinue to provide the terrorists in Syria with arms andmoney," Assad said, according to a transcript in German of theinterview conducted in English on July 5 and scheduled forbroadcast later on Sunday.
Assad accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of providing weapons tothe rebels and Turkey of giving logistical help to smuggle insupplies. The United States offered political support, he added.
Annan arrived in Damascus on Sunday for talks with Assad, aday after admitting that his peace plan had so far failed to end16 months of bloodshed.
Assad said most of victims during the conflict had been hissupporters, rather than his opponents on whom he has usedshelling and tank fire.
"The majority of them are people who support the governmentand a big part of the rest are completely innocent people whohave been killed by different groups in Syria," he said.
Among those groups were Al Qaeda and other extremistIslamists, Assad said. His forces have captured dozens of al-Qaida fighters, some from Tunisia and Libya, he added.Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has urged Sunni Muslimmilitants to join the fight against Assad, whose Shi'ite-rootedminority Alawite sect dominates the army and security forces.