Mccain, Lieberman call for force in Syria
Say talks are ‘not enough’ against Assad’s violent assault on civilians
YAYLADAGI, Turkey — Syrian troops defied a U.n.-brokered cease-fire plan Tuesday as international envoy Kofi Annan pleaded for calm and two U.S. senators said weapons, not negotiations, were needed to end the slaughter of civilians.
“Make no mistake, the situation in Syria is an armed conflict — this is a war,” Sen. John Mccain, R-ariz., said after meeting with senior officers of the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) on the Turkey side of the Syrian border.
“Diplomacy with (Syrian dictator Bashar) Assad has failed and it will continue to fail so long as Assad thinks he can defeat the opposition in Syria mili- tarily,” Mccain said.
The Syrian government had said it was withdrawing from certain areas in line with Annan’s proposal, but France’s foreign ministry called the claims an “unacceptable lie.”
“Hundreds of mortar rounds and shells were falling around all day,” Tarek Badrakhan of Homs said.
Mccain visited refugees with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-conn., as former United Nations chief Annan pressed Assad to adhere to a truce. Crowds of Syrians chanted and waved banners to welcome the visitors.
The Free Syrian Army, made up of deserters of Assad’s military and others, has been appealing for arms that can take out the tanks and missile batteries that Assad is using on his opponents.
Abu Zahn, 33, a dentist, said he and his fellow fighters would welcome help because they need “money, guns, anything to help us to stop the killing.”
The Obama administration has refused to arm the opposi- tion, saying it will widen the conflict, and instead pledged to help provide communications equipment to the rebellion. Mccain said that’s not enough.
“That doesn’t do much against tanks,” he said. “Unless the international community is equal- ly committed to supporting the Syrian people and thwarting Assad — including with military means — the killing will go on and there will be no hope of a diplomatic end to the conflict.”
Mccain said the world must take action to “change the military balance of power on the ground” and advocated establishing “safe havens within Syria where they can train and organize themselves.”
FSA fighters, in track suits and kaffiyeh scarves around their faces, said trying to negotiate with Assad was useless.
“We are asking the international community to stop the killings, not like the last time when they gave him a deadline and (Assad) killed more than 1,000 people,” said Mostafa Kasrgalyoun, 24, who serves as a medic in the Free Syrian Army.
Lieberman criticized Russia and China for blocking two U.N. Security Council resolutions that would have threatened force if Assad did not adhere to the cease-fire plan.
“The opposition has gotten essentially nothing in the way of assistance from the rest of the world, including, I’m sorry to say, up until this day the United States of America,” he said.
Lieberman praised Annan’s efforts, but said one cannot talk peace with Assad. “How many world leaders have to be deceived by Assad for us to realize that we cannot rely on his word, that he will only respond to power — the same kind of power that he is brutally using against his own people,” he said.
Manhal Bareesh, 31, who works with a patchwork of Assad opponents, said the FSA seeks to defend people. But it needs anti-tank missiles and artillery not easily smuggled in backpacks.
“The black market is not enough to arms the soldiers on the ground,” he said. “The FSA needs weapons.”