Assad speech “beyond hypocritical,” Britain’s Hague says - #Syria

Britain denounced President Bashar al-Assad’s speech on Sunday calling for a conference of national dialogue to end the Syrian conflict as “beyond hypocritical.”

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad’s first speech to the nation since June was full of “empty promises” and would “fool no one.”

In an address to an ecstatic audience in a Damascus theatre, Assad described the opposition as “slaves” of the West and outlined a reconciliation plan aimed at resolving a civil war which according to the UN has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

He called for a conference of national dialogue to be followed by a referendum on a national charter and parliamentary elections.

Assad also called on foreign powers to end their support for rebels seeking to bring down his regime.

Hague took to Twitter to vent his anger about the speech, writing: “AssadSpeech beyond hypocritical. Deaths, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are his own making, empty promises of reform fool no one.”

Prime Minister David Cameron earlier reiterated his calls for the Syrian leader to stand down.

“My message to Assad is go,” he told BBC TV. “He has the most phenomenal amount of blood on his hands.

01/06/2013

Britain recognises #Syria opposition coalition - Hague

British Foreign Secretary William Hague arrives at a European Union foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels November 19, 2012. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

LONDON | Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:22pm GMT

(Reuters) - Britain has officially recognised the fledgling Syrian National Coalition opposition group, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Tuesday.

“Her majesty’s government has decided to recognise the national coalition of Syrian revolution and opposition forces as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people,” Hague told parliament.

The coalition was formed earlier this month in Doha to unite Syria’s splintered opposition groups, in an attempt to boost their chances of securing foreign aid and arms in their bid to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

18/11/12

Is it time to arm the Syrian opposition?

As the new opposition group is established, we ask if it should now be supplied with ‘defensive weapons’.

Leaders from Syria’s newly formed opposition, the Syrian National Coalition, held talks in London on Friday with the UK government.

Britain said it welcomed the establishment of the group, but that it is too early to recognise it as the legitimate opposition to Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president.

ts leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib then went on to Paris where Francois Hollande, the French president, became the first world leader officially to recognise the National Coalition.

William Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary, said the country is only willing to recognise the new Syrian Opposition if certain conditions are met.

“The formation of the coalition is a very encouraging development and I am further encouraged by the discussions that I have had with them this morning. It is important of course and I have stressed to them, that they respect minority rights; that they are inclusive of all communities in Syria; committed to a democratic future for the people of Syria … “

So what is needed to assist the coalition now?

Mohamed Haydar, from the Syrian National Turkmen Bloc, says: “In Inside Syria we definitely need quality weapons, namely anti-aircraft missiles. Any relief aid given to the Syrian people only remedies the aftermath of an assault. At the same time, many homes are destroyed; people’s hopes are dashed and future ruined.”

We ask if the opposition should be armed with “defensive weapons” now that it has reformed to be a more inclusive body.

Inside Syria, with presenter David Foster, discusses with guests: Oliver Miles, a former UK ambassador to Libya; Fahed Al-Shelaimi, a security analyst and former colonel in the Kuwaiti army; and Sergei Alexandrovich Markov, a Russian political analyst.

“Russia will not respond [to the flow of weapons in Syria] , maybe Bashar al-Assad will respond, possibly Iran will respond because this war in Syria is not a war between Syrians. Syrians are only [the] hands by outside players. This is a war of a big coalition which includes Saudia Arabia, Persian Gulf monarchies, Turkey, Western coalition which includes France, United States and Israel against Iran. This is a clear war against Iran. The only problem with Bashar al-Assad is that he is an ally of the Iranian regime.”

Sergei Alexandrovich Markov, a Russian political analyst.

UK wants details before recognising #Syria opposition

16/11/12

(Reuters) - Britain would like to formally recognise the Syrian opposition’s fledgling coalition but needs to know more about its plans first, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Friday.

The group was formed in Doha at the weekend in an attempt to unify the fractious movement trying to topple Bashar al-Assad and secure international recognition and arms.

Members of the coalition, including its leader Mouaz Alkhatib, are due to meet Hague and other Western officials in London on Friday before heading to Paris on Saturday.

France became the first European power to recognise the new body on Tuesday but other Western states are holding back, uneasy over the presence of radical Islamists among the rebels and accusations by U.N. investigators of war crimes committed by rebel fighters.

“We would like to be able at an early stage to recognise them as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people,” Hague told reporters. “We need their assurances about being inclusive of all communities.”

He urged the coalition to set out a credible plan for political transition and widen its support among the Syrian people as conditions for official British recognition.

Hague said the appointment of a vice president and showing a clear commitment to human rights were also urgent priorities.

The conflict in Syria, triggered by the Arab Spring-inspired uprising against Assad in March last year, has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone, and Syria’s minorities fear the rise of the mainly Sunni Muslim opposition.

Alkhatib is a moderate Sunni Muslim cleric.

Sunni Muslims are the majority in Syria, while Assad is a member of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Syria’s other minorities have had a measure of protection under Assad’s largely secular, autocratic rule.

ARM THE REBELS?

An estimated 38,000 people have been killed since the uprising began. Stalled efforts to stem the violence have received a renewed push since the re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this month.

The French foreign minister said on Thursday that France would in the coming weeks discuss whether to supply arms to Syrian opposition forces, and Hague said on Friday that Britain does not “rule out any option” in handling the crisis.

However, he appeared to play down the prospects of supplying military aid, at least in the near future.

“We are conscious that this ultimately needs, whatever happens, it needs a diplomatic and political solution. A military victory of one side over the other would be a long, expensive process in terms of human life,” Hague said.

He said Britain’s National Security Council, which met on Thursday, had discussed giving military aid to the Syrian opposition, but that Britain had not changed its position and would continue to supply only non-lethal assistance.

Hague said he might be able to make a decision on whether to recognise the Syrian coalition “in the coming days” and that he would make a statement to parliament on the issue next week.

European foreign and defence ministers are expected to meet on Monday to discuss Syria.

Prospect of #Syria no-fly zone echoes action in Libya

15/11/12

The prospect of British involvement in a no-fly

zone to tackle the bloodshed in Syria comes a

year after the end of a similar military mission in

Libya that was estimated to have cost the UK

more than £1 billion.

An RAF Typhoon takes off for a mission over Libya

By John-Paul Ford Rojas

Hailed as a success following the toppling of Colonel Gaddafi, it saw the RAF fly hundreds of sorties against targets in the North African country.

The allied mission gave relief to rebels who had risen up against the dictator after they became pinned down in their stronghold of Benghazi, and eventually helped bring about their ultimate triumph.

It lasted from March to October. In June, the Ministry of Defence admitted that the war could cost taxpayers £260 million but according to later analysis the cost of the operation until the end of August was between £850 million and £1.75 billion.

The revolt had erupted in mid-February as part of the Arab spring, a wave of popular unrest across the Middle East. But by the time the allied mission began, Gaddafi’s forces were on the verge of marching on Benghazi.

Raids smashed the dictator’s air force before the conflict appeared to head towards stalemate, with ill-trained rebels struggling to fight their way west towards Tripoli.

But with Nato destroying thousands of targets, they eventually took the capital in August, sending Gaddafi into hiding.

It was an alliance air strike that hit his convoy as it fled Sirte, leading to his capture and killing on October 20.

A coalition led by the United States, France and Britain launched the first salvos in the air war on March 19, before handing over command of the mission to Nato on March 31.

The alliance, joined by Arab partners Qatar and United Arab Emirates, flew some 26,000 sorties and destroyed almost 6,000 targets during the conflict.

The Ministry of Defence disclosed that Britain hit more than 900 targets, including secret police headquarters, command bunkers, tanks, rocket launchers and armed trucks. British combat aircraft flew more than 1,600 missions over Libya.

British warships stationed off the coast, and aircraft, also delivered humanitarian aid as well as rescuing refugees.

One of the vessels, HMS Liverpool, became the first warship since the first Gulf War to come under enemy fire.

Turkey calls on major powers to intervene in #Syria

19/10/12

Turkish foreign minister says countries must set aside differences over Syria to prevent humanitarian disaster

Simon Tisdall in Istanbul

The Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, says the lives of millions of Syrians were at risk. Photograph: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

Turkey has called on the US, Britain and other leading countries to take immediate action to intervene in Syria to prevent a looming humanitarian “disaster” that it says threatens the lives of millions of internally displaced people and refugees as winter approaches and could soon ignite a region-wide conflagration.

Appealing to the major powers to set aside their differences over how to end the 20-month-old civil war in which an estimated 32,000 people have died, Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, said the crisis had gone on for long enough. The Syrian people were crying out for help and their pleas could no longer be ignored.

“How long can this situation continue? I mean in Bosnia, now we have Ban Ki-moon [the UN secretary general] apologising 20 years after. Who will apologise for Syria in 20 years’ time? How can we stay idle?” Davutoglu told the Guardian in an exclusive interview in Istanbul.

“We [Turkey] are doing all we can to help these people, using all diplomatic capacity to stop this bloodshed. But there should be a much more concerted effort by the international community. The best way we can see now is direct humanitarian intervention.”

The call came as the UN’s peace envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, travelled to Damascus for crucial talks with the regime due to be held on Saturday – the latest bid, after several failed international initiatives, to bring a halt to the killing. Brahimi is expected to propose a temporary truce, beginning on 26 October, the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, in the hope that it may lead to a permanent ceasefire.

Predominantly Muslim Turkey, a leading Middle East power that is also a Nato member and long-time US ally, has been caught in the storm as the Syrian crisis has unfolded south of its shared 560-mile (900km) border. Opinion polls show most Turks are fearful of their country being sucked into the Syrian quagmire.

More than 145,000 refugees have taken shelter in improvised camps or Turkish cities, fighters of the Free Syrian Army and their Gulf backers use Turkey as a base and covert weapons supply route, and fighting has spilled on to Turkish soil.

Earlier this month, Syrian shelling killed five Turkish civilians in the town of Akçakale, triggering a week of cross-border artillery and mortar exchanges and fears of all-out war. Turkey also recently forced down an aircraft flying from Russia to Syria that it said was carrying military equipment.

Turkey’s earlier proposal to the UN to set up a border buffer zone, backed by a possible no-fly zone, was ignored by the US, Britain and other Nato members wary of involvement in another Middle East war. Russia and China oppose direct intervention.

Now, clearly frustrated by the impasse and deeply concerned at the prospect of a spreading conflict, Turkey’s leaders appear to be adopting a tougher line while appealing to the world’s conscience.

The Syrian regime’s continuing use of air bombardment and heavy weapons against Syria’s civilian population was propelling the country and the region towards a human catastrophe, Davutoglu said. A much more robust response was required from London, Washington and Paris.

“If nothing is done, maybe in the next two months it [the number of refugees] will double to 200,000, even 400,000 … When the technology the regime was using was snipers, the refugees were coming in a few thousands. Now they are using artillery shells and tanks, the number increased rapidly,” Davutoglu said.

“We want the international community to find a solution to resolve this issue inside Syria. All means can be discussed. But there must be proper humanitarian access. We have 145,000 refugees in Turkey but there are millions of people, two million people inside Syria who are IDPs [internally displaced people]. Those that are lucky can come to Turkey. They are the lucky ones.

“So there has to be humanitarian access, a humanitarian mission inside Syria, and the international community must be ready to protect it. This is the question, whether it is a buffer zone or humanitarian access – how these people are to be protected inside Syria. We are calling for an international humanitarian mission to go into Syria and be protected to stop the refugee flow.

“The international community must make a decision. Humanitarian access must be guaranteed by any means that is acceptable. These people are human beings. The winter is approaching. How will they survive the winter?”

Davutoglu stressed any new initiative must be backed by the UN security council. If it established a mechanism to guarantee international humanitarian assistance inside Syria, Turkey would support it and would allow its soil to be used as a base. But Turkey would not act alone or without UN authorisation, he said.

Alluding to the Obama administration, which has been criticised by Republicans for a weak response, as well as to Britain and other countries, Davutoglu said: “We expect the leading powers of the international community to be more firm, more decisive and clear in their policy regarding oppression in Syria.”

Davutoglu said Turkey was not seeking military confrontation with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. But the international community must send a “stark warning”, via the UN security council, that some of Damascus’s actions constituted a “war crime”, he said. Turkey wanted the immediate creation of a transitional government, leading to democratic elections. If Assad wanted to avoid facing war crimes charges in The Hague, he should stop killing his own people.

While Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, has called for Assad to step down, Davutoglu said it was ultimately a matter for the Syrian people.

“It is not our business, it is for them to decide. But after such a criminal act, such oppression and aggression, more than 30,000 people have been killed, we don’t know how many are lost, millions are IDPs, and maybe more than 500,000 are refugees, how can such a person [Assad] who is responsible for these statistics continue to run a country?”

With Brahimi due in Damascus, Davutoglu said Turkey would support a meaningful peace process in Syria but its end objective must be a transfer of power.

The biggest problem for any talks process was that Assad could not be trusted to keep his word, Davutoglu said. Turkey has suggested that Faruk al-Shara, Syria’s vice-president, might lead any transition negotiations. This idea was predictably rejected by Damascus, and by its main regional ally, Iran.

“We don’t see a serious counterpart in Damascus for such talks who is powerful or strong enough to fulfil commitments … Last year myself personally and other senior state officials went to Damascus to convince the regime to halt the violence against civilians. But unfortunately they did not fulfil their promises.

“What is the purpose of any dialogue if it legitimises the Syrian regime? If they are sincere, there are channels to have a dialogue, UN special envoy Brahimi and many other channels. If they come to us with a proposal to end the bloodshed and allow the people to decide their own future, then there will always be a channel.”

Davutoglu said he was hopeful that Russia, wary of another Libyan-style, regime-changing Nato operation, might be persuaded to soften its anti-interventionist stance, once the scale of the impending humanitarian crisis became clear.

“I have contact with [Sergei] Lavrov [Russia’s foreign minister]. They have their own approach especially after the Libyan experience, but even if there was a mistake or something wrong in Libya and I don’t think that there was, why should Syrian people pay the price?”

Asked about US concerns that hardline jihadi groups were hijacking Syria’s uprising, Davutoglu said that possibility made a swift solution all the more urgent.

“The presence of some groups on the ground should not be used as an excuse for not being active. Prolonging the crisis will create a much more critical environment concerning these groups. We must have a solution and act as soon as possible to avoid a power vacuum in Syria.

“We must immediately establish a transitional government and let the Syrian people see a light at the end of the tunnel. At present they do not see light at the end of the tunnel. In the surrounding darkness, anyone can do anything.”

01/10/12

At U.N., #Syrian foreign minister

expected to defend government role

in civil war

(CNN) — Syria’s foreign minister is expected Monday to defend his country’s handling of the 18-month civil war before the U.N. General Assembly, just as newly released casualty figures put the conflict’s human toll at nearly 28,000.

At least 95 people were killed Monday, including 12 children, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria.

The government, on state-run media, said its forces carried out operations against gatherings of “terrorists” in Aleppo and elsewhere, inflicting “heavy losses.” Seventeen citizens were “martyred in terrorists’ shelling” on a village in Homs Sunday, the government said.

Here is the latest in the Syrian uprising:

Syria to face a hostile audience at the United Nations

Foreign Minister Walid Moallem is scheduled to speak to the U.N. General Assembly just days after world leaders painted a grim picture of the conflict.

Syria has dominated much of the General Assembly discussion — on stage and on the sidelines — as world leaders struggle to find a way to resolve the war that has left the Security Council hopelessly deadlocked.

Moallem is heading up the Syrian delegation at the United Nations, where he has been meeting with foreign ministers to drum up support for President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

But Moallem’s anticipated defense of the conflict before the general assembly is unlikely to be well received.

“What has the international community done to stop this carnage?” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said last week. “Literally nothing. We have yet to see a single effective action to save innocent lives.”

Germany also slammed the U.N. Security Council for failure to act, and the United States, Britain and France announced they are backing increased support of non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition.

The Security Council has been paralyzed by a division over how to halt the killing in Syria. Russia and China have blocked resolutions calling for al-Assad to transfer power and step down, saying the issue should be settled by Syrians.

Iraq will conduct random searches of Iranian planes bound for Syria to check for arms shipments, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said in an interview published Sunday in the al-Hayat newspaper.

Zebari said Iraq will not act as a passageway or a channel for arms to make their way into Syria. “We are not with the militarization of the conflict. We are against the arming the regime or the opposition,” he said.

The foreign minister told the newspaper that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others raised concerns about arms shipments. The United States believes Iran, one of al-Assad’s strongest supporters, is arming government forces.

Clinton has called on Syria’s neighbors to take steps to prevent Iran from using its land and airspace to deliver shipments to Syria.

Iraq faces a difficult task in enforcing the inspections, Zebari said.

“We explained to the U.S. side that Iraq’s air defense capabilities are limited, and we are in the stage of building our air force,” he said.

More: Syrian rebels claim knowledge of chemical weapons site

Iranian flights over Iraq to Syria began in March but were stopped shortly after at the request of Iraq, Zebari said. The flights resumed in July.

“They said these flights contain no weapons or hardware, and that they transport pilgrims, visitors and so on. But to verify their shipments, we will ask these planes to land,” Zebari said.

Last week, Baghdad rejected a request from North Korea to fly through its airspace to Syria because of a suspicion the flight was carrying arms.

Hama Massacre recalled as troops move into city

Syrian security forces are overseeing the systematic displacement of thousands and then demolishing their neighborhood in the western flashpoint city of Hama, residents told CNN.

As security forces surround the Mesha Alarbeen district in Hama and bulldozers tear down homes inside, the Hama Massacre is still fresh in the minds of many who live there.

Between 3,000 and 40,000 people were believed to have died when the military acting under orders from Hafez al-Assad — the father of the current Syrian president — brutally cracked down on a revolt in 1982. A1983 Amnesty International report put the toll on both sides between 10,000 and 25,000.

Hama is once again an epicenter of the anti-government movement that has roiled the country.

“So far they have razed 120 buildings,” Osamah, a Hama resident who visited the neighborhood on Sunday, told CNN.

The Syria toll, so far

The Syrian conflict broke out in March 2011 after unarmed protesters, inspired by the success of popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, took to the streets demanding political reform.

The movement devolved into an armed conflict after a brutal crackdown by government forces.

Newly released casualty figures form the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria put the number of civilians and opposition fighters killed in the unrest at 27,954 people.

Of those casualties, the LCC claims more than 24,000 were civilians.

Thousands of Syrian troops also have been reportedly killed.

CNN is unable to independently confirm casualty reports as the Syrian government has severely limited the access of international journalists.

The new casualty figures revealed August was the deadliest month in the conflict, with 5,091 killed. In September, 4,071 people were killed, according to the LCC.

Background: The toll of Syria’s civil war — so far

The Syrian conflict broke out in March 2011 after unarmed protesters, inspired by the success of popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, took to the streets demanding political reform.

The movement devolved into an armed conflict after a brutal and continuing crackdown by government forces.

Since the unrest began, more than 30,000 people have died, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Iran confirms it has forces in #Syria and will take military action if pushed

17/09/12

Army commander gives clear sign of Tehran’s continuing support for Assad’s regime but denies troops signify military presence

Commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, during a press conference in Tehran. Photograph: EPA

Iran has confirmed for the first time that forces from its revolutionary guards corps (IRGC) are in Syria helping Bashar al-Assad’s government crush rebels, and warned that it would get involved militarily if its Arab ally came under attack.

In a clear public signal of Tehran’s continuing support for Assad, the commander of the Islamic republic’s elite military formation said that a number of members of the IRGC’s Qods force were in Syria, though General Mohammad Ali Jafari gave no further details and claimed this did not constitute “a military presence”.

It was a surprisingly candid response to persistent claims by western countries, the Syrian opposition and Israel that Iran is actively helping the regime in the 18th month of a bloody war. Lakhdar Brahimi, the veteran Algerian diplomat who replaced Kofi Annan as UN envoy to Syria earlier this month, met Assad in Damascus on Saturday but warned afterwards that any progress would be slow and halting given the yawning gap between government and opposition. “The crisis is dangerous and getting worse, and it is a threat to the Syrian people, the region and the world,” said Brahimi.

Reports from Syriaon Sunday described government forces fighting rebels amid shelling and sniper fire in Damascus and Aleppo, as well as in Homs and Deir ez-Zor. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, reported 103 dead. Opposition activists reported 115 people killed on Saturday. According to the UN around 20,000 people have been killed. Opposition sources say the figure is closer to 30,000.

Jafari’s admission underlines the way in which the Syrian uprising has become enmeshed in regional and international rivalries. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are arming Syrian rebel groups, while the US, Britain and France have called for Assad to go but are offering only limited and non-lethal backing to the armed opposition. Russia and China have repeatedly blocked action against Syria at the UN.

The Qods force includes elements of special forces, intelligence gathering and aid, and answers to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It has been accused of planning attacks inside Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Jafari said that the IRGC was providing “intellectual and advisory help” to Syria.

British officials say that the IRGC has provided riot control equipment and technical advice on how to crush dissent, for example on how to flood areas with security forces. Iran is also providing support to improve the Syrian regime’s intelligence gathering capabilities and help to monitor protesters’ use of the internet and mobile phone network, including text messaging.

Iran is said to have been dismayed at the heavy-handed way its long-standing Arab ally responded when the unrest began in March 2011, contrasting it with the more sophisticated response to protests that followed its own disputed presidential election in 2009.

“If Syria came under military attack, Iran would also give military support but it … totally depends on the circumstances,” AFP reported Jafari as saying at a rare press conference in Tehran.

The general also said that the Strait of Hormuz, the channel at the mouth of the Gulf through which a third of the world’s traded oil passes, would be a legitimate target for Iran should it be attacked. “If war occurs in the region and the Islamic republic is involved, it is natural that the Strait of Hormuz as well as the energy [market] will face difficulties. The US has many vulnerabilities around Iran, and its bases are within the range of the guards’ missiles. We have other capabilities as well, particularly when it comes to the support of Muslims for the Islamic republic,” he said.

In Damascus, Brahimi also met Syrian opposition figureswho are still tolerated by the regime. “We told Mr Brahimi … of our support for his efforts to resolve the crisis by ending the violence and killings, providing medical care and releasing political prisoners,” said Hassan Abdel Azim, spokesman for the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change. But the head of the Free Syrian Army’s military council in Aleppo, Colonel Abdel Jabar al-Oqaidi, predicted that the envoy’s mission would fail, like Annan’s, because he had nothing to offer those fighting for their freedom, al-Arabiya TV reported.

Syria’s state news agency Sana quoted Assad as telling Brahimi that the success of his mission hinged on “pressuring countries which finance and train the terrorists, and which traffic weapons to Syria, to stop these actions.”

In Istanbul, Tariq al-Hashimi, the fugitive Iraqi vice-president, said in interview that the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was failing to stop ammunitions and armaments reaching Syrian government forces. “My country is unfortunately becoming an Iranian corridor to support the autocratic regime of Bashar al-Assad,” he said. “There is no doubt about that.”

Ashton says more sanctions on #Syria, Iran an option

10/10/12

The European Union is considering imposing more sanctions on Syria in a bid to end its civil war and against Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said.

Catherine Ashton said a review is under way for both Syria and Iran “not only to consider whether more sanctions should be taken, but to make sure the enforcement of sanctions is done properly and any abilities to evade them are dealt with.”

On Friday, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain said they support new sanctions against Iran over the lack of progress in talks about the country’s nuclear programme, which the West fears could be used to build weapons. Iran insists it only seeks to make nuclear fuel for energy and medical reactors.

“Certainly we keep sanctions under review all the time, so the discussions are ongoing… Certainly the issue of sanctions was raised by a number of different partners,” Ashton told reporters at the end of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Nicosia.

China and Russia have repeatedly used their veto powers in the UN Security Council to block US-and Arab-backed action that could have led to sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. But the EU has its own sanctions regarding Syria, including one requiring the bloc’s 27 nations to board ships and airplanes carrying suspicious cargo to the country.

Speaking to reporters at the end of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Cyprus, Ashton said she will do everything she can to ensure Iran complies with its obligations regarding its nuclear programme, adding that Tehran needs to demonstrate that its uranium enrichment programme is for peaceful purposes only. She said she’s in touch with Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator to see how to nudge negotiations forward.

The EU has teamed up with the US to impose sanctions on Iran, including international embargoes on its oil, its main source of revenue.

On Syria, Ashton repeated al-Assad “should go” and that a top priority for the EU is to offer its full backing to the new UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is set to begin mediation aimed at ending the civil war. Activists say more than 23,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against al-Assad began in March 2011.

Ashton urged Syrian opposition groups to form a united front against the al-Assad regime. “It’s really important that the people in Syria feel that they, whoever they are, are part of that future,” she said.

Ashton said humanitarian concerns about Syrian refugees remains an “absolute priority” and that the EU is working with Syria’s neighbours to provide assistance. She said some 200,000 people have sought refuge in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

On Friday, the EU announced it will provide an additional €60 million in humanitarian aid for Syria.

Malta attends Gymnich meeting

Meanwhile, in a statement issued after Malta’s participation at the Gymnich meeting in Pafos, Cyprus, the Department of Information said the events in Syria dominated the agenda of the EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Pafos. The discussion focused on key issues, including how to deal with the humanitarian crisis and the flow of refugees to neighbouring countries, support to the opposition and how to assist the Syrian people with their transition to inclusive democracy in a post-al-Assad Syria.

The EU Foreign Ministers and the High Representative stressed the strong support of the EU to the UN and League of Arab States Joint Special Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi and to his efforts for a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis.

The two horizontal issues of water and education were discussed with the participation and contribution of the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou and Andris Piebalgs, the European Commissioner responsible for Development. Malta was represented by Foreign Minister Tonio Borg.

02/09/12

Will a buffer zone calm or stoke tensions?

We discuss the feasibility and risks of enforcing a buffer zone and a no-fly zone in Syria.

Turkey has appealed to the UN Security Council to create a safe zone inside Syria, but they hold out little hope for an endorsement from the council that has failed so far to take action to stop the violence.

Ankara believes that 100,000 refugees would be a tipping point and with that threshold fast approaching, the government is proposing a solution: Ankara wants UN approval for a buffer zone for displaced Syrians that stretches about 20km into Syrian territory.

Britain and France say they have not ruled out any options - including a no-fly zone - to help civilians fleeing the war.

Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, says so-called liberated zones have been identified and with proper funding and administration they could serve as a refuge for civilians caught in the violence.

But to be effective, a buffer zone would also need a no-fly zone to protect the area, and that cannot be established without a UN Security Council resolution.

Turkey has been pressing for the establishment of safe havens inside Syria to stem the mounting exodus of refugees, and reacted with frustration when its calls fell on deaf ears at the UN Security Council on Thursday.

But on Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, acknowledged that any such move would require UN backing and would be far too risky without the prior establishment of a no-fly zone. Enforcing such a zone without consent from the Damascus regime would risk military confrontation.

However, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called the proposal for a buffer zone unrealistic.

“I believe that talk about a buffer zone is not practical, even for those countries which are playing a hostile role (against Syria),” al-Assad said in a recorded interview broadcast on Syria’s Addounia television.

But Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, has warned that the problem goes beyond being an internal issue. He says that “no one has the right to expect Turkey to take on this international responsibility on its own.”

“According to OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), there are more than two million internally displaced people in Syria. In the face of such a humanitarian disaster, the UN should initiate the establishment of IDP camps within Syria without delay. Needless to say, these camps should have full protection. Let us also be clear, there is only one side which is responsible for this tragedy, it is the regime in Syria.”

It is something that Erdogan seems to agree with: “We cannot take such a measure unless the United Nations Security Council decides in favour of it …. First a decision for the no-fly zone must be taken; then we would be able to take a step towards a buffer zone”

To discuss the issue, Inside Syria, with Teymoor Nabili, speaks to Halla Diyab, a Syrian writer and spokeswoman for the Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria; Daniel Serwer, a professor at the John Hopkins school of Advanced International Studies, and a scholar at the Middle East Institute, who also blogs at peacefair.net; and Birol Baskan, a professor of government at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

“We are excluding no option for the future. We do not know how this crisis will develop, how it will develop over the coming months - it’s steadily getting worse, we’re ruling nothing out and we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios. We don’t generally go into what all that contingency planning is, but we also have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully.”

William Hague, British foreign secretary

FACTS ABOUT THE BUFFER ZONE:

Turkey wants international support for creating safe zone inside Syria
UN Security Council met on Thursday to discuss supplying aid to Syria
French FM: France and Turkey have identified liberated zones in Syria
France says parts of Syria are out of government’s control
Syrian opposition member says al-Assad’s enemies need safe zone
Turkey originally said it could host no more than 100, 000 refugees
UN officials: Turkey has about 80, 000 refugees while Jordan has 150, 000
Over last two weeks up to 5, 000 refugees a day entered turkey
UN: Nearly 20, 000 people killed in Syria since the uprising began in 2011
Humanitarian agencies estimate up to 300, 000 people have fled Syria

Britain, France see little hope for #Syria safe zones

08/30/12 By Tim Witcher (AFP)

UNITED NATIONS — Major obstacles confront any bid to set up safe zones for refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war, the foreign ministers of France and Britain warned Thursday, while insisting they would not rule out future action.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague and France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius highlighted the military and diplomatic hurdles blocking special zones ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Syria’s humanitarian crisis.

Turkey was expected to reaffirm its call for safe zones inside Syria at the ministerial meeting.

Hague told a joint press conference with Fabius there are “considerable difficulties” with the idea.

“We are excluding no option for the future. We do not know how this crisis will develop,” he said.

“It is steadily getting worse. We are ruling nothing out, we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios,” Hague added.

“But we also have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully.”

Hague and Fabius said the UN Security Council — bitterly divided over the 17-month-old Syria conflict — would be unlikely to give its crucial agreement to any military operation to protect a safe zone.

Russia and China have vetoed three resolutions which could have led to economic sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad over the conflict and totally rejected any military intervention.

Fabius echoed Hague’s message. He also said “large-scale” military resources had to be found to protect refugees but said the conflict was almost certain to worsen and “then we will have to look at the different solutions.”

Turkey has said there are more than 80,000 Syrians in camps in its territory and it will not be able to cope when the number reaches 100,000.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday he was in talks with the United Nations on sheltering refugees inside Syria.

“We expect the United Nations to step in for the protection of refugees inside Syria and if possible housing them in camps there,” Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency on Wednesday.

The United Nations says there are now 221,000 refugees registered in camps in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq which are all worried about security fallout from the influx.

Numbers fleeing Syria have grown in recent weeks as Assad’s forces have stepped up their battle with opposition rebels. Syrian activists say more than 25,000 people have died in the conflict, while the United Nations puts the figure at almost 20,000.

France and Britain also announced new financial aid to UN efforts to help relief efforts inside Syria and in the camps in neighboring countries.

France will give five million euros ($6.2 million) on top of the 20 million euros already allocated. Britain will give an extra three million pounds ($4.75 million) on top of the 27.5 million pounds it has already contributed.

A UN appeal for $373 million for relief operations for Syria and refugee camps outside the country has raised barely $196 million.

The United Nations said fresh cash is urgently needed, and Fabius and Hague said other countries had to step up financial assistance.

“We call on other nations to increase their funding — and on Security Council members to set a strong lead,” Hague said.

Fabius said much of the new French money would go to “liberated areas” inside Syria which are now in opposition control.

The UN estimates there are 1.2 million displaced people sheltering in public buildings and many more sought refuge with family and friends to escape cities where Assad’s forces are battling opposition rebels.

Some 2.5 million people have been affected by the conflict and a UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimate made in June said three million people are “food insecure”.

Britain, France play down #Syria “safe zone” hopes

The British and French Foreign Ministers highlighted Thursday the major obstacles to creating safe zones for refugees from Syria’s civil war, but said they are ruling out no measure yet.

Speaking ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the growing humanitarian crisis, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague also announced greater aid for international relief efforts.

Turkey, which faces a growing influx of refugees, has urged world powers to consider setting up safe zones to protect Syrian civilians, but Hague said such a plan would imply foreign military intervention.

“We are excluding no option for the future. We do not know how this crisis will develop,” Hague told a joint press conference with Fabius, warning of “considerable difficulties” in winning international consensus.

“It is steadily getting worse. We are ruling nothing out, we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios,” Hague said.

“But we also have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully.”

Hague and Fabius said the UN Security Council – bitterly divided over the Syria conflict – would be unlikely to give its crucial agreement to any military operation to protect a safe zone.

Russia and China have vetoed three resolutions which could have led to economic sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad over the conflict and totally rejected any military intervention.

Fabius gave a similar message but said the conflict was almost certain to worsen and said “then we will have to look at the different solutions.”

Britain will give an extra three million pounds [4.75 million dollars] and France five million euros [6.2 million dollars] to aid efforts inside Syria and in camps in neighboring countries, the ministers said.

A UN appeal for $373 million for relief operations for Syria and refugee camps outside the country has raised barely $196 million.

Fabius and Hague said other countries had to step up financial assistance to the United Nations and other aid groups.

-AFP

Western spies helping #Syria rebels

Sunday Times says British intelligence helping rebels launch successful attacks

AFP
Published: 14:02 August 19, 2012

Syrian rebels man a checkpoint in the north of northern Syria’s Idlib region.

Aleppo: British and German spies are involved in covert operations to help Syrian rebels in their increasingly bloody fight to topple the regime of President Bashar Al Assad, press reports said on Sunday.

The reports said German and British spies were passing on information about Syrian troop movements to the rebels.

“We can be proud of the significant contribution we are making to the fall of the [Al] Assad regime,” an official from Germany’s BND foreign intelligence service told Bild am Sonntag.

The paper said German spies were stationed off the Syrian coast and also active at a Nato base in Turkey, whose government is staunchly opposed to the Al Assad regime and is sheltering Free Syrian Army rebels.

Britain’s Sunday Times newsaper also said British intelligence was helping rebels launch successful attacks on government forces with information gathered from their listening posts in nearby Cyprus.

It said the most valuable intelligence has been about the movements of troops towards the flashpoint commercial hub of Aleppo, which is now partly controlled by rebels and is the scene of some of the fiercest fighting.

The regime’s far superior military might has failed to suppress the poorly armed rebels whose determination to bring Al Assad down has only grown with the passing of time.

Overall the death toll has surged to at least 23,000 people since March last year, the Observatory says, while the UN puts the toll at 17,000.

With the bloodletting showing no signs of abating, the opposition lashed out at new envoy Brahimi, branding as “unacceptable” his reported comments that it was too soon for him to call for Al Assad to go.

Brahimi’s comments only served to give Al Assad’s government a “licence to kill tens of thousands more Syrians”, the Syrian National Council said in a statement.

The West is demanding Al Assad step down as part of any political deal to end the 17-month conflict but is opposed by Syria’s traditional allies in Moscow and Beijing which see it as foreign-imposed regime change.

Brahimi, who replaced Kofi Annan, nevertheless won support from the West as well as China and Russia, although the White House said it would be seeking clarifications on the terms of his mandate.

With Western speculation of further defections, Syrian state television insisted that Vice-President Farouq Al Shar’a had not left the country after opposition and media reports that he had defected.

“Mr [Al] Shar’a has never thought about leaving the country or going anywhere,” the television said on Saturday, quoting a statement from his office.

Al Shar’a, 73, is the most powerful Sunni Muslim figure in the minority Alawite-led regime and has served in top posts for almost 30 years.

A former deputy oil minister who defected in March said Al Shar’a was actually under house arrest and that other top officials were also being kept under surveillance.

“He has been trying to leave Syria,” Abd Hussam Al Deen told Al Arabiya television. “But there are a series of circumstances that prevent him from leaving, especially the fact that he has been under house arrest for some time.”

Among those to have abandoned the embattled regime are former prime minister Riyad Hijab and high profile general Manaf Tlass — a childhood friend of Al Assad.

Meanwhile, UN observers were preparing to wrap up their mission on Sunday after chief observer General Babacar Gaye accused both sides of failing to protect civilians.

“Both parties have obligations under international humanitarian law to make sure that civilians are protected,” Gaye told reporters in Damascus ahead of the mission’s end at midnight on Sunday. “These obligations have not been respected.”

The UN originally sent in 300 unarmed military observers in April but its patrols were suspended in June because of the mounting violence.

As Muslims the world over marked Eid, Syrians faced another daily cycle of bloodshed.

Troops bombarded the besieged city of Rastan in the central province of Homs, as well as Idlib in the northwest and the eastern province of Deir Al zor, the Observatory said.

“This is how we celebrate Eid!” chanted a crowd of protesters — among them children — who took to the streets of Kafr Zeita, in the central province of Hama, according to amateur video posted on YouTube by activists.

The intensified fighting has sent at least 170,000 Syrians fleeing while another 2.5 million inside Syria need aid, according to the UN.

#Syria accuses U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar of overseeing rebel battles

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, the Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, accused Israel, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar of running military operation centers in Turkey to support the rebels. (Al Arabiya)

11/08/2012

Syria has accused Israel, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar of running military operation centers in Turkey to support the rebels by overseeing battles in Syria’s 17-month conflict.

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council released on Friday, Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari also again blamed Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia of “harboring, funding and arming the armed terrorist groups.”

“Turkey has established within its territory military operations centers that are run by the intelligence services of Israel, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” Jaafari wrote in the letter dated Aug. 2.

“Those centers are being used to oversee battles that are being waged by the terrorists against Syrian citizens in Aleppo and other Syrian cities and the massacres the terrorists are perpetrating after entering Syria in large numbers,” he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing measures to help the rebels and U.S. officials say Washington is collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to help direct vital military and communications support to rebels.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have killed more than 15,000 people since a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters began in March 2011, some Western leaders say. Damascus says rebels have killed several thousand of its security forces.

Aleppo, which is Syria’s largest city and economic hub, has been battered for days by government artillery, but rebels promised on Friday they will hit back after losing ground as residents fled during a lull in fighting.

“Those shedding tears over what is occurring in Aleppo and demanding that the Security Council should be convened are the very same parties that caused the tragedy through their support of terrorism and arming of terrorist groups,” Jaafari said.

He said the United States, France, Britain and Turkey were leading a campaign “to alter the balance in the region and force its countries to comply with the hegemonic policies and bend to the will of those Western states.”

Jaafari called on the U.N. Security Council to pressure those countries to stop supporting, arming and funding the rebels and facilitating their operations.

French president under attack over leadership on #Syria

Thibault Camus/AP - French President Francois Hollande delivers a speech at the beginning of a social conference with unions and employers in Paris, France on July 9, 2012. Hollande is under attack from political opponents over his perceived lack of leadership on Syria.

10/08/2012

PARIS — President Francois Hollande has come under a withering political attack from his conservative opponents over what they charge is lack of French leadership in dealing with the Syrian civil war.

The political offensive is roughly similar to the accusations of inaction leveled against President Obama by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the United States. But in France the election campaign has long been over: Hollande, a Socialist, defeated former president Nicolas Sarkozy and assumed the presidency more than three months ago.

Nevertheless, Sarkozy and his followers have drawn comparisons between Hollande, who has said France would intervene only under a U.N. Security Council mandate, and Sarkozy, who waged an energetic diplomatic campaign last year to persuade the United States, Britain and other French allies to intervene militarily in Libya.

The charges have gained particular resonance because Hollande is on vacation in a luxurious government mansion on the Riviera, providing an opening for charges that he is sun-tanning while Syria burns. Many other French families are on vacation as well, creating a dearth of news in which the opposition campaign looms large.

Sarkozy himself started the campaign on Tuesday. Breaking a post-election silence, he issued a communiqué saying he had talked on the telephone with Abdel Basset Sayda, head of the main Syrian opposition group, and that they had together found “great similarities” between the Syrian insurrection and the Libyan revolt that led to the killing of Moammar Gaddafi in October 2011 and the installation of a new government.

The clear implication was that Hollande should be taking the lead in organizing a Western response to the Syrian conflict just as Sarkozy took the lead in pulling together the successful NATO military intervention in Libya. Sarkozy’s prominent leadership during the Libya crisis was widely applauded in France, which is traditionally eager to show its influence on the international stage.

Widely interpreted in that light, Sarkozy’s declaration was the signal for a hail of accusations from Sarkozy’s followers.

“Francois Hollande must immediately interrupt his vacation so France can take charge of the swift international reaction called for by Nicolas Sarkozy and Abdel Basset Sayda,” former education minister Frederic Lefebvre said in a statement.

Nadine Morano, an unwavering Sarkozy supporter, added: “Hollande is on vacation and Sarkozy as well, but as always he is active in showing interest in the Syrian issue, as in 2008 for Georgia.”

In August 2008, Sarkozy broke off his holiday to wage a personal diplomatic offensive designed to halt the war between Russia and neighboring Georgia. After traveling to the area, he won a cease-fire and withdrawal agreement, which was only partly respected but which ended the fighting.

Jean-Francois Cope, secretary general of Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement coalition, joined the chorus Friday in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper. “I am very concerned by the inertia of French diplomacy,” he declared. “Its leader, Francois Hollande, is present everywhere at his vacation spot, but is totally absent on the international scene.”

Hollande has not responded to his critics. But his foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, expressed surprise that the former president would violate protocol and criticize his successor on a delicate foreign policy problem.

“One would expect something else from a former president,” he said, accusing Sarkozy of seeking to stir up an argument for political ends.

In fact, Sarkozy’s policy on Syria while he was still in office was nearly the same as Hollande’s. Both leaders have sought unsuccessfully to persuade Russia and China to endorse a Security Council mandate for greater international intervention to halt the bloodshed. But both have expressed unwillingness to act militarily without such a mandate.