DAMASCUS, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Syrian Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for his recent "biased" remarks against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In an extraordinary broadside, the Syrian government said Brahimi went "too far" in his recent press statements that have shown his "bias to well-known parties that conspire against Syria. "
Brahimi said in recent interviews that the latest speech by Assad, in which he revealed a new plan for a political solution to the crisis, was a "lost opportunity" to end the crisis and " sectarian and one-sided."
He also said Assad's rule was "too long" and the embattled Syrian leader could have no place in a transitional government to end civil war.
"Syria is strongly astonished by what Brahimi had said and stresses that he has departed with his statements from the essence of his mission and blatantly demonstrated his bias to the stances of well-known mediums known for conspiring against Syria and the interests of the Syrian people," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run SANA news agency.
The ministry said no one has the right to speak on behalf of the Syrian people, who are the ones entrusted with determining their future and their political system.
It indicated that Assad's new political plan represents the sole exit to the Syrian crisis, adding that "we were expecting the international envoy to read and analyze the components of the political program."
Meanwhile, the ministry attributed the continuation of violence and terrorism in Syria to the failure of the international community in persuading some countries to stop harboring, arming and bankrolling the insurgency.
Despite the reproaching, the ministry said Syria is still hopeful of making Brahimi's mission successful, stressing that it will keep cooperating with him in that regard.
Assad's new plan includes a cease-fire, followed by a comprehensive national dialogue conference and the establishment of a broad-based government and parliament. The Syrian opposition dismissed the new initiative as not enough to be a roadmap of a political process that could end the country's crisis.
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