Kofi Annan addressed reporters briefly after talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Syria in Baghdad.

He said top-level talks with the Syrian leadership going back to April have failed and that they would now try a bottom-up rather than top-level approach to stop the fighting.

In response to Al Jazeera's question on what he'd concluded from talks in Damascus, Syria and Iraq, he said:

"I think we need to keep pressing and we need to do it energetically and constructively. The emphasis on tryng to stop the killing - it's on everyones red line. When I was in Damascus we did discuss with the president the need on being creative in stopping the violence. We tried it on the national level on the 12th of April and it didn't hold. Now there are serious pockets of violence around ... and it is suggested we work with them to end the violence in each of the pockets and build it from the ground up rather than the other way around. And I believe where there is will and everyone works on it seriously it could work. We are also as I indicated going to discuss this with the opposition on the ground."

Further, he said:

"I think we've all watched the tragic situation in Syria, the killings the suffering of the people, men, women, children, the innocent who are caught in the middle and everyone I've spoken to shares the need and concern for us to stop the killing.

"There was a ... position and the feeling in Tehran - just as it is here with Prime Minister Maliki - they would want to see us move as expidiousloy as possible to the political table.

"I've had the opportunity to discuss with the leaders concerned about the need to do everything possible to stop the killing - to stop the killing for the sake of the Syrian people and to ensure that the conflict in Syria does not spill over to its neighbours. And I also discussed the need to get people to the table to discuss the political future - I've had very good discussions with PM Maliki who like all of us is extremely concerned with the killing and supports the six-point plan and its comprehensive implementation. I leave tonight and tomorrow I'll be briefing the Security Council and I'm sure the council will be taking the appropriate action including the mandate of observers on the ground as the mandate comes up on July 21."