Brahimi to visit Iraq over Syria crisis

International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will visit Baghdad on Monday for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki over the 19-month uprising in Syria, Maliki's spokesman said on Saturday. "Iraq has said many times that it supports the efforts of Lakhdar Brahimi to find a solution, and we will work to make this mission successful to end the human tragedy of the Syrian people," Ali Mussawi said. He said Brahimi would arrive in Baghdad on Monday and would meet with Maliki, but said he had no further details on the veteran troubleshooter's schedule while in Iraq. Brahimi is in the midst of a regional tour aimed at finding a solution to the conflict in Syria after Damascus rejected a UN call to implement a unilateral ceasefire. The envoy first visited the Middle East in mid-September and travelled to Damascus where he met Assad but earned no promise of concessions from him. Brahimi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and was in Turkey on Saturday. In an interview with AFP on Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Brahimi would soon return to Damascus to try again to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ban suggested Brahimi could go to the Syrian capital next week if his meetings in the region this week were productive.