The joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, said on Friday at a Geneva press conference on the activities of the international observers that it was most important to "stop the killing, help the suffering population, secure a political transtion and make sure the crisis does not spread to the neighbors". He continued:

The longer we wait, the darker Syria's future becomes ... Otherwise, I fear we are reaching the day when it will be too late, and the crisis keeps spiraling out of control. The time to act is now.