West, Russia brace for UN showdown over Syria

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations (UN) Security Council braced for a showdown over Syria on Tuesday, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leading a Western charge pressing Russia to back action to stop the violence.

Amid dozens of new deaths in Syria and opposition warnings of a potential massacre, Clinton, the head of the Arab League, and British and French foreign ministers headed to New York City to push forward a UN resolution.

But Russia, which has veto power in the council, has objected to a resolution introduced by Morocco under which Syrian President Bashar al- Assad would accept a ceasefire and hand over power to a deputy ahead of talks.

“The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the escalation of the Syrian regime’s violent and brutal attacks on its own people,” Clinton said on Monday in a statement announcing her trip to the United Nations.

“The Security Council must act and make clear to the Syrian regime that the world community views its actions as a threat to peace and security. The violence must end, so that a new period of democratic transition can begin,” she added.

European Union (EU) leaders at a summit in Brussels unanimously voiced outrage over the bloodshed in Syria, with EU President Herman Van Rompuy calling on the Security Council to “take long overdue steps to bring an end to the repression.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron, citing reports that more than 400 children have been killed in the crackdown, said, “It’s frankly an appalling situation.”

“It’s time for all the members of the UN Security Council to live up to their responsibilities instead of shielding those with blood on their hands,” he added.

Scandalous manner

Syria’s foreign ministry fired back, saying that “the aggressive American and Western statements against Syria are escalating in a scandalous manner,” and again blaming the recent violence on “armed terrorist groups.”

Russia and China—which have accused Western nations of misusing a UN mandate in their intervention to bring down Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi—in October vetoed an earlier Westernbacked draft resolution on Syria.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov expressed similar concerns about the latest draft resolution. Moscow has longstanding ties to Syria and is the main supplier of weapons to Assad’s regime.

“The draft has statements in it calling on the member-states to stop arms deliveries to Syria,” Gatilov told Interfax news agency in an interview.

“But there is no clear line between arms contraband that some countries engage in to support extremist forces in Syria, and the legal military-technical ties with this country,” he said.

Instead, Russia has called for Assad’s regime and the opposition to hold “informal contacts” in Moscow without any preconditions.

Asked about Russia’s call for talks, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the United States supported a political solution, but was “intensely discussing” with Russia the “real deterioration on the ground” in Syria.

“The regime has lost control of the country and will eventually fall,” Carney added.

Human rights groups say that more than 5,400 people have died in Syria as Assad has tried to crush the latest in a wave of Arab uprisings that overthrew authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia last year.

A surge of violence in Syria on Monday, mostly in the flashpoint region of Homs, killed almost 100 people, including 55 civilians, activists said.

The violence, which also saw 25 soldiers killed, made it one of the bloodiest days of the revolt against the regime since it erupted in March.