“Special Representative Brahimi has Germany’s full support for his mediation efforts in Damascus and with the regional powers. Starting today, Lakhdar Brahimi will hold difficult talks with representatives of the Assad Regime in Damascus. We support his call for a ceasefire next week during the Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha. That would give the people in Syria a glimmer of hope in humanitarian terms. I thus urgently call on Assad and the opposition forces to comply with this request.”