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Syrian regime says call for cease-fire is pointless because rebels lack leaders to sign it

BEIRUT – The Syrian government says the international envoy’s call for a holiday cease-fire is pointless because the rebels have no unified leadership to sign it.

Lakhdar Brahimi asked Iranian officials to help broker a truce during the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha later this month.

Syria’s state-run Al-Thawra newspaper said Wednesday that the biggest obstacle to the truce was the lack of an authority to sign for the rebels.

The scores of brigades fighting to topple the regime of President Bashar Assad have no unified leadership, and many don’t communicate with each other.

Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, arrived in Beirut Wednesday for talks with Lebanese officials on how to resolve the crisis.

Activists say more than 33,000 have been killed in 19 months of violence in Syria.

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