'West not after democracy in Syria' [Abayomi Azikiwi © PressTV]

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should relinquish power.

"We don't think there's going to be peace in Syria until Assad steps down... We will be clear with special envoy Brahimi about our views on this," Nuland said on Monday.

French President Francois Hollande also said on Monday that there is no political solution for the unrest in Syria unless Bashar al-Assad leaves power.

Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.

Russia along with China, both permanent members of the Security Council, have so far defied the West's insistence on military intervention in Syria, blocking efforts at the UN to materialize the objective.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals.

A number of hostile Arab and Western countries, particularly Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States and Britain are providing insurgents with weapons to fight against the Syrian government forces.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Abayomi Azikiwi, editor of Pan-African News Wire, to further explore the issue.