Russia Says Foreign Troops Will Not Deploy in Syria - Voice of America

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Syrian ally Russia says it will not allow the deployment of foreign troops in Syria, as the U.N. Security Council debates how to stop the bloodshed of the 10-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that if someone wants to use force, such a move will not be done with any authorization from the U.N. Security Council.

His comments come a day after senior diplomats from the Security Council met to discuss a revised Russian draft resolution that assigns equal blame for the violence to the government and opposition.  France, Britain and the U.S. are pushing for strong condemnation of Syria, but Russia and China have blocked such measures.

Syria on Tuesday rejected a Qatari proposal to send Arab troops to the country to stop the unrest, saying such a move would worsen the situation and open the door to foreign interference.  Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani proposed the troop deployment last week, saying it is needed to "stop the killing."

U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday condemned Syria's continued crackdown on protesters, calling the violence "unacceptable" and vowing to redouble international efforts to force Mr. Assad to step down.

The Syrian-based activist group Local Coordination Committees said Assad's security forces on Tuesday killed at least 30 people, 19 of them in the troubled central province of Homs.

The Arab League is due to discuss the crisis in Syria on Saturday and Sunday, and is expected to consider the future of its widely criticized observer mission in the country.

Syria is Moscow's chief ally in the region and one of its biggest arms customers. A Russian-operated ship carrying ammunition allegedly docked in Syria last week. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said Tuesday an arms embargo against Damascus is "overdue."

"Obviously we’d have very grave concern about arms flows into Syria from any source and we would certainly make that point very directly with any country that may be providing such arms," said Rice. "Unfortunately, there is not an arms embargo against Syria, which we certainly think is overdue, in part because as you well know, some members of the Council, including Russia, have indicated opposition to any form of sanction, even those that mirror that [which] the Arab League has already implemented."

Senior U.S. officials say Iran also is supplying weapons to aid Syria's crackdown in an initiative spearheaded by the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds force.

The United Nations says violence linked to the uprising has killed more than 5,400 people, including 400 in the last three weeks. Syria says "terrorists" have killed about 2,000 members of the security forces since the unrest began.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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UN Security Council to Examine Russian Proposal on Syria - Voice of America

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Experts from the 15 nations on the U.N. Security Council are scheduled to discuss a new draft resolution on the violence in Syria.

The meeting Tuesday will examine the proposed resolution Russia sent to the Security Council Monday, the third Moscow has presented in the past month.

Western diplomats said Monday the draft resolution is confusing and does not make clear whether Russia would accept tough language demanded by the West.

A military ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia insists that any Council action should target not only the Assad government, but also the opposition movement demanding an end to his 11-year autocratic rule.

Western powers have been pushing the Council for months to condemn the Syrian government's violent suppression of the 10-month uprising, but Russia and China have blocked such action.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Council Monday to take "serious" action against Syria, where he says casualties from the unrest have reached "unacceptable" levels.

Speaking during a visit to Abu Dhabi, Ban appealed to the Council to act in a "coherent" manner in resolving the Syrian crisis.

He also praised the Arab League for holding a dialogue with Assad and sending observers to Syria last month.  U.N. spokesman Eduardo del Buey told VOA Monday that a small group of U.N. rights experts will travel to Cairo to train the Arab League observers this week, at the request of the regional bloc.

Syrian opposition activists have criticized the observer mission, saying the Syrian government is deceiving it and using the monitors as a cover to intensify security operations against the opposition.

In another sign of growing domestic pressure on Assad, the prominent Syrian opposition group the Syrian National Council says it has reached an agreement to boost coordination with Syrian army defectors known as the Free Syrian Army.  In a statement Monday, the SNC says it will cooperate with the Syrian rebels on issues such as accommodating new defectors within the rebel army.

The Syrian government blames the uprising on armed terrorists.

The United Nations says violence linked to the uprising has killed more than 5,000 people.  Syria says "terrorists" have killed about 2,000 members of the security forces since the unrest began.

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Arab League Struggles As Syrian Violence Mounts - Voice of America

Arab league observers wearing orange vests oversee the releasing of Syrian prisoners who wait in queue to be released from Adra Prison on the outskirts of Damascus, January 15, 2012

Syrian human rights activists say at least five people were killed by pro-government forces Monday, as Arab League monitors struggle to document the violence.

It was another difficult day for Arab League monitors. One group, taken to hear evidence of unrest in areas just outside the capital, spent the morning listening to government official after government official tell of attacks against them.

The group listened patiently, asking questions and seeking clarification. One case seemed particularly confusing - a sanitation official who said opposition forces in the restive town of Douma were trying to sabotage their own water supply.

The same monitors had a more trying experience the day before, as they went beyond government-controlled areas to investigate an attack in Zabadani. The observers were welcomed as heroes, but soon found themselves fleeing under gunfire. Who fired the shots is unclear.

The observers, in their safety-orange vests, were meeting Monday just outside Damascus in a room decorated with portraits and photographs of President Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez. The uprising has been trying to end the Assad family's 40-year rule, first with peaceful protests, but increasingly with attacks by military defectors.

With the Arab League mission faltering, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon again lashed out against the violence, saying when a leader is disconnected from reality and from the people, such a situation is inevitable. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Mr. Ban said he hoped the Security Council would handle the issue with gravity.

"I know that there are some differences of opinions among the member states of the Security Council but the number of casualties have reached to such an unacceptable stage, we cannot let this situation continue like this way. This is my urgent appeal," saind the U.N. chief.

There has been little consensus internationally on intervening in the Syrian crisis, but the Arab League is set to consider a Qatari-proposed Arab force Saturday.

The Syrian government blames the unrest on extremists and terrorists, but has announced further concessions, including the approval of another political party, and the day before, the repeated offer of a general amnesty.

Few in the anti-government movement have any faith in the measures, saying they are far too little, far too late.

For the Arab League monitors, they have been overseeing the government's release of political prisoners. Asked how they can assure those released will not be thrown back into jail, one observer shrugged slightly and said "we have their phone numbers."

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