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Russia will continue to oppose attempts by the UN Security Council to sanction military intervention in Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says. Mr Lavrov also repeated calls for an international conference to implement UN envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan. He said Moscow would support the departure of President Bashar al-Assad, but only if Syrians agreed to it. Meanwhile, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) has elected a Kurdish activist as its new president.
The exiled SNC, an umbrella group for opposition groups, elected Abdelbasset Sida at a meeting in Istanbul, a statement said. Mr Sida, who succeeds Burhan Ghalioun, told the BBC he planned to restructure the council and get all opposition groups to agree on a unified vision. As efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis continued, activists in Syria said more than 80 civilians had been killed by pro-government forces on Saturday. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they included about 20 killed in the flashpoint southern town of Deraa. The figures cannot be independently verified.
'Dangerous game'
Speaking at foreign ministry in Moscow, Mr Lavrov said that the issue of foreign intervention in Syria was being posed in a "radical and quite emotional way". He said foreign powers were encouraging the armed opposition to hope that "the Libyan scenario" could be repeated. "All this is a dangerous game," he said. "Our position remains unchanged. We will not agree to the use of force being authorised in the UN Security Council. "That would lead to the gravest of consequences for the whole of the Middle East." He said the intervention of "external forces" could result in a "catastrophic scenario" that would create an "arc of instability" from the Mediterranean to the Gulf. Both Russia and China have opposed UN Security Council resolutions condemning the Syrian government for continuing violence.
Mr Lavrov acknowledged that Mr Annan's six-point peace plan had begun to "seriously falter" but said Russia saw "no alternative". He said that Moscow - which has resisted US-led calls for Mr Assad to stand down - was not opposed to his departure, but only against it being imposed on Syria from outside. "If the Syrians agree (to Mr Assad's departure) we will only be happy to support such a solution," Mr Lavrov said. "But we believe it is unacceptable to impose the conditions for such a dialogue from outside." He also pressed Moscow's idea of an international conference on Syria that would include Iran - an ally of Damascus. "To say that Iran doesn't have a place because it is already to blame for everything and it's part of the problem... this is thoughtless to say the least from the point of view of serious diplomacy," he said.
More BBC News - Russia 'still opposes Syria intervention'
while I agree with you that the actions of syria's government against it's own people is deplorable, I don't blame it on Obama or anyone else except the ruling party in syria.
I am not a fan of our president, but I still have to believe he has access to information that I do not, and therefore is better situated to make the decision whether to send in the troops or not.
Gee...
... didn't know it was permissible...
... to post information w/o some kind of comment...
... thanks ERGO...
... fer straightenin' me out.
Gee...
... didn't know it was permissible...
... to post information w/o some kind of comment...
... thanks ERGO...
... fer straightenin' me out.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. was "concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria." She said the shipment "will escalate the conflict quite dramatically." Clinton's comments at a public appearance with Israeli President Shimon Peres augured poorly for a peaceful solution to Syria's conflict. Officials from around the world are warning that the violence risks becoming an all-out civil war, with Middle East power brokers from Iran to Turkey possibly being drawn into the fighting.
Diplomatic hopes have rested on Washington and Moscow agreeing on a transition plan that would end the four-decade Assad regime. But Moscow has consistently rejected the use of outside forces to end the conflict or any international plan to force regime change in Damascus. Despite withering criticism from the West, it insists that any arms it supplies to Syria are not being used to quell anti-government dissent. With diplomacy at a standstill, the reported shipment of helicopters suggests a dangerous new turn for Syria after more than a year of harsh government crackdowns on mainly peaceful protests and the emergence of an increasingly organized armed insurgency.
There was no immediate reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry. Russia and Syria have a longstanding military relationship and Syria hosts Russia's only naval base on the Mediterranean Sea. But in light of the brutal violence, the U.S. has repeatedly demanded that any further deliveries of weaponry be halted. Russian military support in the form of materiel as advanced as attack helicopters would deal a serious blow to efforts to starve the Syrian army of supplies. Some 13,000 people have died, according to opposition groups, but the U.S. and its allies have been hoping that sanctions on Assad's government and its increased isolation would make it increasingly difficult to carry out military campaigns. Attack helicopters are heavily armored and can carry machine guns, rockets, missiles or other weapons capable of firing at ground targets.
Asked why the Pentagon isn't blocking Russian weapons shipments to Syria, Defense Department officials noted that the administration hasn't declared an arms embargo. Navy Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, accepted the argument that Moscow's resupplying of helicopters enables the regime to kill its own people, but said the key issue is how the Syrians use the materiel. "Let's not let the Assad regime off the hook here," he told reporters. "The focus really needs to be more on what the Assad regime is doing to its own people, than the cabinets and the closets to which they turn to pull stuff out. It's really about what they're doing with what they've got in their hands."
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War with Russia and China over Syria. Sounds good to me!
Gee...
... didn't know it was permissible...
... to post information w/o some kind of comment...
... thanks ERGO...
... fer straightenin' me out.
Don't you know, some posters are more equal than others...
War with Russia and China over Syria. Sounds good to me!
