Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa has said that neither his government's forces nor the opposition rebels fighting to overthrow the regime can win the war, according to an interview published Monday, dpa reported.
"No opposition can end the battle militarily, just as the security forces and army cannot achieve a decisive conclusion," al-Sharaa told the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar.
Al-Sharaa, 74, comes from the southern province of Daraa, the cradle of the uprising that started in March 2011. He is a prominent Sunni Muslim serving in President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority dominated regime. He also worked for Hafez al-Assad, the president's father.
Al-Sharaa said the only way to end the 22-month crisis was a "historic settlement" and the formation of a national unity government.
"The solution has to be Syrian, but through a historic settlement, which would include the main regional countries, and members of UN Security Council," he said.
"This settlement must include ... the creation of a national unity government with wide powers," he added.
"The various opposition forces - whether armed or civilian, or linked to foreign powers - cannot claim they are the sole legitimate representatives of the Syrian people.
"... The current governing power, with its army possessing its own ideology, as well as its political parties, with the Baath party at the forefront, cannot alone create changes without new partners."
Walid al-Bunni, a prominent opposition member, told dpa that al-Sharaa's statement "came too late and we cannot accept that those killing the Syrian people stay in power."
In August, there were conflicting reports that al-Sharaa had defected or was placed under house arrest by the regime.
That month, Turkey suggested that al-Sharaa would be a suitable figure to lead a transition government in Syria.
There was fighting reported in the outskirts of the capital Damascus and areas in the northern provinces that border Turkey.