Syria says Brahimi to arrive in Damascus on Saturday

DAMASCUS - Agence France-Presse

N-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi gestures during a press conference after his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Government palace in Beirut Lebanon 17 October 2012. UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in Lebanon on a one-day visit to meet with senior officials. EPA/NABIL MOUNZER

International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is trying to secure a truce in Syria for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, will arrive in Damascus on Saturday, the foreign ministry said.
 
"Brahimi will meet with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Saturday morning," ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdisi told AFP.

Brahimi called on Monday for a temporary ceasefire in Syria during the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday starting on October 26.
 
The veteran diplomat's visit to Damascus will be his last stop on a tour to countries that play influential roles in the Syrian crisis. Armed with a step-by-step approach to the conflict, Brahimi looks set to be welcomed favourably by the Syrian authorities.
 
Brahimi has focused his efforts on "convincing all parties to accept a temporary and limited objective as a first step towards a solution, and as a litmus test of all parties' intentions," Syria's ruling party mouthpiece, Al-Baath newspaper, said on Thursday.
 
"The envoy is making a thorough and prudent effort to overcome the obstacles (in implementing) a diplomacy of small steps," said the newspaper.