Brahimi Denies Asking for Peacekeepers in Syria

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi denied having asked for peacekeeping forces in Syria, after talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad on Monday.

"You've read that I have asked for peacekeeping," Brahimi told reporters at a joint news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. "I haven't."

"I don't know where this news came (from). It certainly did not come from me."

Earlier, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council said on Monday that Brahimi was considering proposing the deployment of peacekeepers to Syria if a deal on a transition was reached.

One of Brahimi's ideas "is considering the deployment of peacekeeping forces which would accompany any political proposal," the head of the SNC's media office Ahmed Ramadan told AFP in Doha as the exiled opposition group began a meeting in the Qatari capital.

"But this issue is still being discussed," he added.

Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, told reporters that any such force must be "well-armed."

"Any mission that is not well-armed will not fulfill its aim. For this, it must have enough members and equipment to carry out its duty," he said.