Al-Jazeera Video: Fawaz Gerges on Annan's "impossible mission" in Syria

"If former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan fails to negotiate an end to the violence during his trip to Damascus this weekend, the country will likely plunge into a "protracted crisis" that could last for years, said London School of Economics Professor Fawaz Gerges.

He said Annan's diplomatic mission, carried out under UN and Arab League auspices, amounted to an "impossible mission," since rebels and opposition figures insist on an unlikely foreign military intervention as the only solution."