The United States Tuesday set mid-July as the "outer limit" for the success of Kofi Annan's faltering peace plan in Syria and said it is working on plans for a peaceful political transition, dpa reported.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US fully backs Annan's six-point peace plan, because his efforts on behalf of both the United Nations and the Arab League represent an "unprecedented" international unity of purpose.
But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's "contempt" for the peace plan has intensified international efforts, which include Russia, to work out a political transition of what would follow al-Assad, she said at the Brookings Institution in Washington. The US refuses to include Iran in the talks because of its military support of Damascus, she emphasized.
Clinton said that she had discussed the way forward with Annan last week. "We have a timeline in mind to see whether or not this effort of Kofi's can be successful. The outer limit is that of mid-July, when the Security Council has to decide whether or not to extend the (peace observer) mission there."
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