YEREVAN: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Yerevan Monday for talks with Armenian leaders as she pushed diplomatically for a political transition in Syria amid fears of a full-blown civil war.
Clinton spoke by telephone earlier with UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who agreed to travel to Washington on Friday "to discuss next steps in his six point plan and in particular political transition" in Syria, a senior State Department spokeswoman said.
Annan's April 12 peace plan for Syria has been in tatters since more than 100 civilians, many of them women and children, were massacred in the Syrian city of Houla, allegedly by pro-government militias.
They also discussed a conversation Clinton had Saturday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in which she urged Moscow to get behind a political transition that ultimately would remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power.
Russia has so far resisted pressure to impose UN Security Council sanctions against its longtime ally.
Clinton also gave Annan a preview of talks she plans to hold later this week in Istanbul with a group of countries with a direct interest in the unfolding drama in Syria, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
These were expected to include France, Britain, Germany, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Fears that Syria is on the brink of a civil war have mounted sharply since the Houla massacre, which set off a storm of condemnation but no concerted international response as yet in the form of sanctions or stronger action.
In a speech Sunday, Assad said the massacre was part of a foreign plot to destroy Syria.
Clinton has been particularly critical of Russia, accusing it of propping up the Assad regime with continuing arms shipments.
In Armenia, she was scheduled to meet with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian.
A senior US official said Clinton is seeking to strengthen relations with the land-locked former Soviet Republic, which borders Iran and remains heavily dependent on Russia for energy and on remittances from Armenians abroad.
Clinton also will travel to Georgia and Azerbaijan over the next two days before winding up her trip in Istanbul Wednesday and Thursday.
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