Brahimi will not present a plan for an end to the year-and-a-half-long conflict until he has spoken with all the parties. But he does not expect a quick breakthrough. Meanwhile, agyptian president mohammed mursi again called on syrian president baschar al-assad to resign. "There is no place for a president who kills his own people," he said thursday after speaking with eu commission president jose manuel barroso in brussel.
"We are all against what the regime in syria is doing," mursi said. The members of the "syria quartet" (agypt, turkey, iran, saudi arabia) that he founded were to meet again shortly to discuss ways to end the violence. "We think we need regime change". I believe that we need concrete action, pressure and patience so that the syrian people can decide their own future."
Syrian government forces, meanwhile, killed a former parliamentarian during a raid in aleppo province. Activists report that ahmed al-turk was shot dead in his home in the village of harasta. A son of the politician had been taken away by the soldiers. Nationwide, 36 people died on thursday, according to opposition figures. Most of the casualties are said to have occurred in aleppo.
The syrian newspaper "al-watan" published for the first time official data on the number of displaced people. More than 300,000 families are currently living in emergency shelters. Many of them are housed in school buildings, which is why classes could not start after the summer vacations in many districts. There are currently around 257,000 refugees outside syria.