‘‘The evidence shows that we have not succeeded,’’ he told the French daily Le Monde.

Envoy Kofi Annan noted the importance of Russia, a Syrian ally that keeps blocking international action against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but that Iran a longtime Syrian ally, too, “is a player, and should be part of the solution,” Annan said in the interview.

The Annan plan, which insists on a cessation of violence by all sides and took effect since mid-April, has been ignored on a daily basis as activists say more than 17,000 people have died since the uprising began in March last year.

Annan’s comments come amid  fears that the unrest in Syria will spill over into Lebanon.

On Saturday, shells fired from inside Syria killed  five people after rebels crossed the border to seek refuge, residents said. in the latest incident of violence spilling across the border, according to Reuters.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Friday for scaling down an observer mission in Syria to refocus on political efforts to end the violence.

Meanwhile, activists in Syria on Saturday reported that Syrian forces bombarded towns in the northern province of Aleppo in violence on Saturday that killed at least 60 across the country, Al Jazeera reported quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on an activist network inside Syria, called the bombardment of a number of villages in Aleppo province ‘‘the most violent’’ since the Regime forces are attempting to regain control over the region.

Annan said on Friday that he was “optimistic” that the Geneva talks would lead to a satisfactory outcome.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, met Hillary Clinton, in St Petersburg on Friday. He said there was “a very good chance of finding common ground at the conference in Geneva”.

Lavrov, said that he had seen some flexibility on Clinton’s part during their talks.

“I felt a change in Hillary Clinton’s position. There were not ultimatums,” he said. “Not a word was said that the document we will discuss in Geneva cannot be touched,” he said.

A senior US state department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Reuters news agency that “areas of difficulty and difference” remain, but that an accord was still possible.

Kofi Annan, joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, has laid on the table a proposal involving the formation of a national unity government comprising leaders from both the government and the opposition.

Annan’s new proposal will call for multi-party elections, and an offer for “significant” international funding to rebuild war-torn Syria, according to a blueprint obtained by the AFP news agency.

According to Annan the transitional government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation”, leaving unclear whether Bashar al-Assad will be excluded form the transition government.

Foreign ministers from Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq are also set to attend the meeting. Iran, Assad’s other close ally, was excluded – a condition set down by the US – as was Saudi Arabia, which has supported the Syrian opposition.

Meanwhile, Iran’s U.N. ambassador said on Friday that Iran could be a “heavyweight champion” of efforts to bring peace to Syria, according to Al Arabiya.

Assad on Thursday dismissed the notion of any external solution to the crisis, “We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries.

“No one knows how to solve Syria’s problems as well as we do.”

Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and France have voiced support for the plan, which will be reviewed at a June 30 conference of foreign ministers in Geneva, even though, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, said that he is in favor of changes that might lead to “national agreement”, but warned that Moscow “will not support  an external solution”. Assad’s fate, he added, must be decided “by the Syrian people”.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition groups said they would reject the plan if it did not explicitly ban President Bashar al-Assad in any “unity government”.

Annan’s new proposal will call for multi-party elections, and an offer for “significant” international funding to rebuild war-torn Syria, according to a blueprint obtained by the AFP news agency.

According to Annan the transitional government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation”, leaving unclear which officials should be excluded from the transitional government.

Foreign ministers from Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq are also set to attend the meeting. Iran, Assad’s other close ally, was excluded – a condition set down by the US – as was Saudi Arabia, which has supported the Syrian opposition, according to Al Jazeera.

Syria’s state television SANA reported on Thursday that two explosions rocked a court complex in central Damascus, wounding three people and damaging 20 cars.

Meanwhile, at least 70 people were killed Thursday in Syria, mainly in areas near Damascus, according to opposition activists.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed concerns on Thursday regarding some 1000 Syrian civilians trapped iin the central province of Homs.

It said that a joint team from the ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent was prevented from entering the worst-hit areas on Wednesday in Homs.