Syrian Freedom

EU urges political solution in #Syria amid fears of spillover

The European Union insisted Saturday on the need for a hasty political solution to end the carnage in Syria as the collapse of Lebanon’s government triggered fresh fears of a regional spillover.

Winding up two-day talks with EU foreign ministers, in which Britain and France failed to win support from partners to arm Syria’s rebels, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the onus instead had to be on a political settlement.

Influential Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt meanwhile said funneling weapons to Syria’s insurgents as suggested by London and Paris would only fan the conflict and undermine efforts to seek a negotiated settlement.

“We must try to give new momentum to a political solution,” Ashton said, including fresh economic and political support to the opposition and further pressure on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to negotiate.

“I cannot say how much we have a sense of urgency on Syria and the neighboring countries,” she said at a news conference held after Lebanon’s government fell over divisions triggered by the two-year civil war across the border.

Debate over whether to lift an existing EU arms embargo in order to supply arms, including ground-to-air missiles and other heavy weaponry, to Syrian rebels topped talks between the EU foreign ministers in Dublin.

An agreement is needed by May 31 to renew a far-reaching package of EU sanctions against the Assad regime, including the near two-year-old embargo. If not agreed unanimously by the EU-27 it will expire. The ministers are scheduled to meet several times at least before then.

But there was little to no appetite for the push by Britain and France.

“I think among all the foreign ministers there is a determination that it is only by a political solution that we can get an end to the carnage in Syria,” said Sweden’s Bildt.

While reviewing existing sanctions was part of the effort to reach a political solution, EU nations remained reluctant to supply offensive weapons to the opposition, Bildt said.

“It was very difficult to detect any enthusiasm for the further arming of a conflict that is already much too armed,” Bildt said after the talks.

“A number of ministers expressed the concern that it was going to lead to an intensification of the fighting, that it was going to open the floodgates from other quarters and the prolongation of the conflict and might complicate the search for a political solution that everyone agrees is the most important thing.”

Bildt, who played a prominent role in seeking an end to the Balkans conflicts in the mid-1990s — notably acting on behalf of the EU and UN — said there was “an interesting parallel” between the Balkans and Syria, where UN Security Council permanent members China and Russia are in disagreement with the others.

The Bosnian war, which began in April 1992, could have ended the following summer in 1993 instead of autumn 1995 if international actors had stayed on the same page, he said.

But “different actors were going into different directions and that prolonged the war,” he said. “So we must not repeat that mistake. It is only by getting the international community together that we have any possibility of a political solution.”

03/23/2013

EU puts off rebel arms decision on #Syria anniversary

Syria’s devastating conflict entered its third year on Friday with no agreement among EU leaders on British and French calls for an easing of the bloc’s embargo to allow arms supplies to the rebels.

With several member states expressing strong opposition, EU leaders at a summit in Brussels put off further discussions on the future of the arms embargo until a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Dublin next week.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy said that leaders had discussed easing it and “agreed to task our foreign ministers to assess the situation as a matter of priority” in Ireland.

Both London and Paris had warned they were ready to break ranks with their European partners to supply weapons to the rebels as their frustration mounts that diplomacy has failed to end the conflict.

But there appeared little appetite among other Europeans for lifting the ban, many fearing that a flood of weapons into Syria will only escalate the bloodshed.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said Vienna was not prepared to lift the ban. “We think the delivery of arms does not contribute to a possible solution,” he told reporters.

A Spanish diplomatic source said there was widespread hesitation about arming the rebels.

03/15/2013

8 Nov 2012 #Syria : Cameron - Call to lift Syria arms embargo to aid rebels

UK to review EU ban after Cameron visits refugee camps as Turkey says it will ask Nato to put Patriot missiles along border

Nicholas Watt in Amman and Ian Black, Middle East editor

The Guardian, Thursday 8 November 2012

A Syrian rebel fighter throws a grenade towards Assad forces in Aleppo. David Cameron says he will press Barack Obama to make Syria a priority. Photograph: John Cantlie/AFP

Britain is to review the EU arms embargo on Syria as part of a wholesale change in strategy in the wake of Barack Obama’s re-election that could lead to the eventual arming of the rebel forces fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.

As David Cameron said he would press Obama to make Syria a priority, No 10 officials indicated that the prime minister now wants to put every possible measure to remove Assad “back on the table”.

Cameron’s visit to the Zaatari Syrian refugee camp in Jordan on Wednesday, in which he heard “appalling stories” of suffering, persuaded him that Britain and its allies need to review their strategy, a source said. Britain’s national security council will discuss the crisis in special session next week.

It will include a review of the EU ban on providing weapons to all sides in Syria. Officials say that the embargo includes the principle of “proportionality” which suggests the restriction could be relaxed in the event of a humanitarian disaster.

Evidence of a British rethink on the crisis came on a day when rebels fired mortars at a presidential palace in Damascus and as different elements of the divided Syrian opposition met in the Qatari capital Doha to try to close ranks and form a transitional government for the post-Assad era.

In another indication of regional tensions, Turkey confirmed that it is to make an official request to Nato to station Patriot missiles along its border with Syria. The move follows several incidents of shelling across the 560-mile frontier. It could also be linked to the ideas of establishing a safe zone or no-fly zone in the border area.

The moves by Britain and Turkey both seemed to anticipate a bolder approach from Obama to end the conflict that has claimed an estimated 35,000 lives since the bloodiest of the Arab spring uprisings erupted in March 2011. On average 100 to 150 people now die every day.

The text of the EU embargo, agreed two months after the conflict began, says: “By way of derogation … the competent authorities in the member states … may authorise the sale, supply, transfer or export of equipment which might be used for internal repression, under such conditions as they deem appropriate, if they determine that such equipment is intended solely for humanitarian or protective use.”

Cameron made clear he believes that stage may have been reached after he visited the refugee camp, where 110,000 Syrians are sheltering. “I think what I have seen and heard today is truly appalling,” said. “I think [with] a re-elected president [Obama] with a new mandate … it’s really important to discuss what more we can do to help resolve the situation.”

Underlining the shift, the foreign office announced on Wednesday that it will talk to “military figures in the armed opposition” though it insists it has no plans to arm the rebels – the suspicion of those who fear a rerun of Nato’s intervention in Libya last year.

Previously the Foreign Office had sanctioned contact only with “political representatives of armed Syrian opposition groups”.

William Hague, the foreign secretary, said in a statement to MPs that Britain would “adhere to our clearly stated policy of only supplying non-lethal support to the unarmed opposition”.

But No 10 believes there is a mismatch in which the EU and the US provide only “non-lethal” help to the rebels while Russia and Iran provide resources and weapons to Syrian government forces.

It is understood that Britain may review the EU embargo as a tactical ploy to persuade the Russians and Chinese, who have pledged to veto any UN security council resolution, to change position.

The prime minister wants Britain’s security council to examine the viability of creating safe havens, an idea championed by Turkey, and to assess whether Assad could be persuaded to stand down by the offer of safe passage to a third country.

Officials acknowledge that it would be difficult to secure such havens without imposing a no-fly zone over parts of Syria. This is deemed impossible because China and Russia would block such a move, which would be difficult to enforce in the face of Syria’s powerful air force.

But Cameron said he was determined to act across a range of fronts. “That means more help for the opposition, more pressure at the UN, more help for the refugees, more work with the neighbours but also a general sort of: ‘Look let’s be frank what we’ve done for the last 18 months hasn’t been enough.’ The slaughter continues, the bloodshed is appalling, the bad effects it’s having on the region, the radicalisation but also the humanitarian crisis that is engulfing Syria. So let’s work together on really pushing what more we can do, what other steps we can take to hasten the end of this regime.”

The No 10 source said: “Today is the moment the prime minister came and saw for himself what is happening. This is the moment to get some impetus going forward. We want to put everything on the table.”

The main Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council, discussed electing a new leader and executive committee on Wednesday. It and other groups will meet on Thursday to form a new 50-member civilian group that will later choose a temporary government for Syria and, western governments hope, improve coordination with armed group

Switzerland toughens sanctions against #Syria

27/10/12

Switzerland on Friday adopted new sanctions against Syria, falling into line with decisions taken by the European Union, a statement from the economy ministry in Bern said.

It also took action against two men suspected of links with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Switzerland, which is not part of the EU, added 28 names to its existing list of supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. Their assets are frozen and they cannot get visas.

In addition, two further Syrian companies are to be the subject of sanctions.

The individuals added to the list of targeted Syrians are ministers, former ministers and close associates of Assad. The sanctions should take effect Saturday.

The two Syrian companies are Megatrade and Expert Partners, which are suspected of buying weapons or material that could be used for repression.

The EU decided on October 15 to increase to 181 the number of individuals close to the regime and to 54 the number of companies or institutions on its blacklist.

At the same time it imposed an arms and oil embargo, a series of trade and financial sanctions, and a freeze on the assets of companies, institutions and regime members, who were also banned from travel to the EU. Switzerland followed suit.

Another decree from the economy ministry identified Ayyub Bashir, of Uzbek and Afghan nationality, and Aaamir Ali Chaudry, a Pakistani national, as the two men whose assets are to be frozen because of alleged ties to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

-AFP

Europe: Act now to help refugees fleeing #Syria

24/10/12

A Syrian boy looks on in a newly built refugee camp. © AFP/Getty Images

By Charlotte Phillips, researcher on refugee and migrants’ rights at Amnesty International.

On 26 September 2012 at the United Nations General Assembly, David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister, accused the United Nations of inaction over the Syria conflict, stating: “The blood of these young children is a terrible stain on the reputation of this United Nations.”

A few months earlier in June 2012, the European Council “strongly condemned the brutal violence and massacres of civilians and urged the Syrian regime to stop immediately its attacks against the civilian population”.

The human rights crisis in Syria is a major test for the EU in its own neighbourhood. In light of the recent announcement that it has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the European Union and its member states have an opportunity to live up to this recognition by taking decisive action to ensure that refugees fleeing Syria are protected.

However, despite widespread condemnation, lofty talk and finger pointing, the, international community – including the European Union - has thus far failed to place any effective pressure on the parties to the conflict in Syria to end the large-scale human rights and humanitarian law violations.

Nineteen months after the initially peaceful pro-reform protests erupted and were met with brutal repression, spiralling into an internal armed conflict, the UN Security Council remains paralysed by the prospect of Russia and China’s vetos and the inaction of its other members.

And while the international community dithers, civilian casualities - many of them children - continue to mount.

Estimates indicate that well over 24,000 people have died since the crisis began. In addition, over one million people have become displaced from their homes within Syria.

More than 350,000 refugees have registered or are awaiting registration in Syria’s neighbouring countries- namely Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

The UN predicts that by the end of the year 700,000 refugees will have fled to Syria’s neighbours. By contrast, the EU has only received 16,500 Syrian asylum seekers.

While Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq have, on the whole, allowed large numbers of refugees to enter and remain on their territories, the sharply rising numbers crossing borders as the conflict worsens, makes it imperative for the international community to act decisively to share responsibility with neighbouring countries hosting them.

After all, if governments are really concerned about the fate of civillians in Syria, surely they are equally concerned for those forced to flee the country to seek safety. Assisting and protecting those who have managed to escape the bloodshed is the very least that the international community can do.

For this reason, Amnesty International is appealing to the European Union and its member states to take practical measures to assist those fleeing Syria.

Amnesty International proposes the EU takes the following concrete measures:

•    Ensure access to protection and fair asylum procedures for all Syrian asylum-seekers arriving in the EU

•    Ensure no refugees are returned to Syria until the situation has stabilised and their safety can be assured

•    Agree a common EU approach towards determining refugee claims

•    Adopt a generous interpretation of international protection

•    Lift obstacles to safety, such as visa requirements and overly burdensome family reunification procedures

Amnesty International is also calling on EU member states to share the responsibility and show solidarity by resettling refugees out of Syria, which is still hosting a large number of Iraqi and Palestinian refugees, as well as significant numbers of Somali, Afghan, Sudanese and Yemeni refugees.

Non-Iraqi refugees in particular face significantly increased exposure to protection risks during the current period of unrest due to their lack of documentation and/or visibility as foreigners.

The UN Refugee Agency is appealling to countries to provide resettlement places for these refugees and Amnesty International urges EU states to respond generously to this appeal.

European countries, as well as other donor countries, must also donate generously to the United Nations (UN) Syria Regional Response Plan. The UN, with its partners, has appealed for US$487.9 million to support the Syrian refugee operation. To date, the appeal is only 29 percent funded.

The rapidly growing numbers of refugees and the onset of winter mean even harsher conditions for refugees in neighbouring countries.

The need to support the humanitarian appeal has become all the more urgent.

#Syria: New EU sanctions help ‘terrorist groups’

17/10/12

Fresh EU sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime are “a new link in a chain of actions that lend political, economic and media support… to armed terrorist groups,” a Syrian Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday.

A new wave of sanctions was imposed by EU foreign ministers on Monday. They involve an assets freeze and travel ban against 28 Syrians and two firms.

“The European Union’s insistence on imposing coercive economic sanctions is without any legal or ethical basis,” the unidentified official said, cited by state news agency SANA.

The sanctions “contradict these countries’ claims that they are driven by their desire to defend the Syrian people’s interests.”

This was the latest in the European Union’s string of restrictive measures against the Assad regime since the outbreak of an anti-regime revolt in March last year.

A total of 181 people with close ties to the regime and 54 companies or entities are now on EU blacklists.

The Syrian authorities refer to armed rebels and dissidents against Assad’s regime as “armed terrorist groups.”

-AFP

#Syrians applying for asylum

16/10/12

UN refugee agency spokesperson Adrian Edwards said 16,474 Syrians have applied for asylum in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland between January 2011 and August 2012, according to the Associated Press.

Berlin “ready in principle” to host #Syrian refugees, says FM

16/10/12

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Tuesday that Germany is “ready in principle” to host Syrians who have fled the civil war there, but added that it must be done under an international framework.

“Germany is ready in principle to welcome Syrian refugees,” he told regional newspaper Rheinische Post.

But he called for a coordinated plan to be put in place with the United Nations, the European Union and refugee aid groups.

Turkey, which is coping with an influx of over 100,000 refugees from Syria, has been urging Europe to do more to help.

Earlier Monday, the European Union said it would continue assisting Ankara but made no offer to take refugees in.

In the interview with Rheinische Post, Westerwelle noted that the “majority of the refugees want to remain in the region [around Syria], so as to be able to return immediately to their country once circumstances allow them to”.

Germany was therefore putting the focus at the moment on humanitarian aid on site, he said.

The United Nations estimates that more than 2.5 million people have been affected by the fighting. There are more than 348,000 Syrian refugees registered in neighbouring countries, but many more are unregistered.

-AFP

EU grants funds for Syrian refugee children in Jordan

07/10/12

The European Commission said Sunday it has granted 4.6 million euros ($6 million) to the UN children’s fund to educate children in Syrian refugee camps in Jordan.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, accompanied by UNICEF chief Anthony Lake, announced the grant during a visit to a school in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

“We have to ensure that families who have had to flee their country can live in decent conditions and that their children do not lose their right to education and to a brighter future,” Barroso said, according to a commission statement.

The statement said the donation covers teacher training and salaries, school fees, textbooks, school equipment and refurbishment, support for children in need and other costs.

The school that opened last week can host up to 2,200 pupils and UNICEF seeks eventually to expand its capacity to accommodate up to 5,000.

-AFP

EU invites Russia’s Lavrov for #Syria talks

18/09/12

European Union foreign ministers have invited Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov for “substantial” talks next month on the situation in Syria, EU diplomats said Tuesday.

Lavrov is to dine with the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers on October 14, the eve of ministerial talks in Luxembourg expected to focus largely on Syria.

“The idea is to have a general political dialogue,” one source said.

“We will invite Mr. Lavrov for a substantial discussion,” said another. “There is a healthy dialogue these days with Russia.”

At their October 15 meeting, the EU ministers are expected to tighten sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad.

Moscow has repeatedly refused to back international calls for Assad to step down and together with China jointly vetoed three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions against the Syrian leader.

Ahead of the Luxembourg talks, the EU ministers will meet on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.

-AFP

12.9.12 Commission to release further €50 million in #Syria aid

Article | September 7, 2012 - 11:18am| By Alia Papageorgiou

EU commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva | AFP PHOTO GEORGES GOBET

The European Commission is preparing to release an additional €50 million in humanitarian funding to help Syrian civilians caught up in their country’s crisis. This will bring the Commission’s total contribution to €119 million.

The release of the funds will begin as soon as the European Parliament and the Council have approved the decision a news item from the EU Neighbourhood Info Point released on 7 September said.

According to the Commission’s press release this would bring the assistance from the European Commission and Member States to €200 million - roughly half of all international humanitarian aid to the crisis. This puts the European Union in a clear lead in responding to the UN’s call for more funding.

“The humanitarian situation in Syria is worsening almost daily now that the hostilities have slipped into civil war. There are already tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. This calls for massive and effective humanitarian aid to reach those in urgent need of medical supplies and items such as baby food. This is why we are stepping up our assistance in this desperate situation”, said Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, responsible for Humanitarian Aid, Civil Protection and Crisis Response, said: . The Commissioner also called once more on all parties to the conflict to respect the lives of innocent civilians caught up in the fighting through no fault of their own.

Leading MEP urges EU to impose #Syria no-fly zone

11/09/12

(STRASBOURG) - Former Belgian premier and leading European lawmaker Guy Verhofstadt on Tuesday urged European Union intervention in Syria to protect civilians, notably by imposing a no-fly zone against government planes.

“For more than a year we have offered no real response to the situation in Syria on behalf of the international community,” said the leader of the European Parliament’s centre-right group.

He said the EU sanctions against President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime “were not tantamount to a real policy that would change the situation in Syria.”

“We are missing a real policy,” he said.

Saying nothing would change before the US presidential election in November, Verhofstadt said “the European Union must be at the forefront” of the fight against the regime and “not wait for the Americans.”

“Being at the forefront for Europe means imposing a no-fly zone in Syria so that Assad’s planes cannot intervene,” he said.

He also called for “safety zones, humanitarian corridors,” help for the rebel Free Syria Army and more humanitarian aid.

If not, “the tragedy will continue”, he said.

Syrian troops storm Damascus refugee area, chase rebels

08/09/12

By Oliver Holmes

BEIRUT | Sat Sep 8, 2012 1:29pm EDT

(Reuters) - Syrian government troops stormed an area of Damascus populated by Palestinian refugees on Saturday after a four-day artillery assault on the southern suburb where rebels have been sheltering, opposition activists said.

President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have largely preferred to use air power and artillery to hit areas where rebels are dug in, deploying infantry only once many have fled. Activists said the new ground onslaught put civilians at risk.

The almost 18-month-old conflict also spilled further over borders when three rockets fired from Syria crashed into an Iraqi frontier town, killing a 5-year-old girl, according to local inhabitants and Iraqi officials.

Anxious to end the bloodshed, European Union diplomats said on Saturday the 27-nation bloc might impose new sanctions on the Syrian government as soon as next month.

Speaking after visiting a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he saw “the first signs of erosion in the regime of Assad”.

“It is necessary we isolate the regime of Bashar al-Assad,” he told a news conference.

“We will use the next weeks while Germany has the presidency of the (U.N.) Security Council to work on this isolation and to increase the pressure on this regime. We think he has gone too far and his time is over.”

Assad’s use of military force to quell an uprising that began as a peaceful pro-democracy movement has cost him many allies in the Arab and Muslim world and caused a trickle of defections from Syrian government and army ranks.

Two Syrian diplomats in Malaysia announced late on Friday that they had joined the opposition, according to a report by pan-Arab television channel Al Arabiya.

But the defections so far are seen largely as symbolic and Assad has increasingly relied on a close circle of relatives and senior members of his minority Alawite sect dominating the ruling elite to maintain his family’s 42-year-old grip on power.

Syrian activist Abu Yasser al-Shami said that friends living in Yarmouk, a densely populated Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus where 10 people were killed on Friday in shelling, had fled the area on Saturday after government troops swept in.

“Assad’s forces stormed al-Basel hospital in Yarmouk Camp and arrested many of the injured civilians,” he said over Skype.

When insurgents thrust into central parts of the capital in July, they were swiftly pushed back to southern districts, like Yarmouk, where there is a thinner state security presence.

INDISCRIMINATE ARTILLERY

Activists say Assad has been reluctant to use infantry as the army is made up mostly of conscripts drawn from the Sunni Muslim majority, many of whom are seen as desertion risks.

Residents complain that the army uses indiscriminate artillery and air strikes. Palestinians have been divided over whether or not to support Assad, but there are signs that more and more are now starting to back the uprising against him.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition watchdog based in London, said shells rained down on Hajar al-Aswad district, which neighbors Yarmouk, on Saturday.

It said 170 people were killed in bloodshed on Friday across the country, many of them in Damascus and northern Aleppo, where rebels say they control more than half of what is Syria’s most populous city and commercial center.

The Observatory says more than 23,000 people have died in an uprising that has lasted more than 17 months. About 200,000 Syrians have fled to Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon.

The conflict has edged ominously over Syrian borders into neighbors with sectarian tensions echoing those of Syria, where mainly Sunni insurgents are pitted against Assad’s Alawite community whose faith is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

As rebels fought government forces for an airfield and military base near the Syrian border town of Albu Kamal, Katyusha rockets hit a residential area of al Qaim in Iraq, smashing through a wall of one house and killing a girl inside.

“She was sitting on my lap just before we heard the rocket. I knew she was dead immediately after the explosion,” said Firas Attallah, the girl’s father, showing a bloodstained mattress amid the shattered glass in his home.

The Syrian war has caused jitters in Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim-led government. Close to Bashar al-Assad’s ally, Iran, Baghdad has resisted joining calls for the Syrian leader to step down.

In smaller Lebanon, the issue of Syria is explosive and the Lebanese government has tip-toed around the topic. But former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri told the Al-Hayat newspaper on Saturday that Lebanon’s stance of dissociation from the Syrian conflict was shameful.

“The self-distancing policy allows the Syrian regime to shell Lebanese villages,” he said, referring to several incidents when Syrian forces have fired artillery across the borders at villages they say are harboring insurgents.

Lebanon’s army forces raided a southern district of Beirut late on Friday and arrested a member of a powerful Shi’ite clan which has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 20 Syrians and a Turkish businessman.

The army arrested Hassan Meqdad, from the Meqdad clan, which abducted the men on August 15 in what they said was a response to the capture of one of their kinsmen in Damascus by the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Damascus continues to exert influence over is smaller neighbor and even had troops garrisoned in Lebanon until 2005.

The United States has accused Russia and China of effectively prolonging Syria’s bloodletting by blocking efforts at the U.N. Security Council to approve tough sanctions aimed at reining in the Assad government.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a summit of Pacific rim states that Moscow and Western powers remained at loggerheads over how to defuse the conflict - a diplomatic impasse in which Western officials say violence has flourished.

“Our U.S. partners prefer measures like threats, increased pressure and new sanctions against both Syria and Iran. We do not agree with this in principle,” Lavrov told reporters. Russia and Iran are Assad’s closest allies.

Lavrov said Russia expected the Security Council later this month to formally endorse an agreement brokered by former U.N. Syria envoy Kofi Annan which envisages a transitional governing authority for Syria.

Washington has angered Russia by going outside the United Nations to work with allies on the Syrian opposition’s behalf. But U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Lavrov it was possible to return to the United Nations if Moscow and Beijing were ready to forego their vetoes and back stronger measures.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn and Gleb Bryanski at Pacific Rim summit, Patrick Markey in al Qaim, Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Jordan; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

EU Considering New Sanctions Against #Syria and Iran, Ashton Says

08/09/12

By Stelios Orphanides

The European Union may impose additional sanctions on Syria and Iran as it reviews the effectiveness of those already in place, the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

“We keep sanctions under review not only to consider whether more sanctions should be taken but to make sure that the enforcement of sanctions is done properly and any ability to evade them is dealt with,” Ashton told reporters in Nicosia today after a meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers.

While considering new sanctions, Europe has to support the new United Nations envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, Ashton said. “His approach will be to look for a political breakthrough that clearly takes the people into their future and stops the violence,” she said, adding that EU foreign ministers agreed to increase humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees by 50 million euros ($64 million).

Ashton said that it is “critical” to urge Syrian groups opposing President Bashar al-Assad to work together. “It is also really important that the people in Syria feel that they are part of that future and that means reaching out to minority groups.”

7.9.12 EU beefs up #Syria aid as spillover fears mount

(PAPHOS) - EU foreign ministers, holding their first talks since the summer break, on Friday called for a massive boost in aid to Syrian civilians amid mounting fears the humanitarian crisis could impact Europe.

As Brussels announced an extra 50 million euros ($63 million) for civilians trapped in the conflict, EU ministers at a two-day informal meeting held just 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Syria warned that the humanitarian crisis was reaching tipping point.

“Humanitarian needs are rising rapidly,” said British Foreign Secretary William Hague. “We need additional contributions to the human effort urgently. I want to put the proposal to my colleagues that other EU nations need to do more.”

The latest aid, likely to be distributed through NGOs, brings the EU contribution in all to 200 million euros, half of all international help.

It is aimed at reaching the 200,000 refugees massed in neighbours Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq as well as the 1.2 million people displaced inside Syria by fighting between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

At their 48-hour session, an informal brain-storming held in a classy Cypriot resort, the ministers will set the tone for the weeks and months to come on a range of foreign policy issues, with Syria and Iran topping the agenda.

Hague said in a letter seen by AFP that was sent to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton ahead of the talks that the European Union needed to play a bigger role in resolving the Syrian crisis, now threatening to destabilise the region.

His counterparts from France and Italy, Laurent Fabius and Giulio Terzi, said in a separate message also to Ashton that the crisis was at “a turning-point” and that the days “of this rotten regime are numbered.”

They called for an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers in New York this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Like Hague, they said: “How the post-Assad Syria looks will affect the stability of the entire Middle East.”

But they added that “Syria matters above all to Europe”.

Should the EU fail to help resolve the crisis Europe’s security could be threatened from problems ranging from terror, arms proliferation and illegal immigration to energy security.

Europe’s answer to the challenge thrown up by potential migration flows and asylum seekers was to help countries such as Turkey and Jordan host the refugees on Syria’s border, ministers said.

“I don’t think bringing thousands of refugees to Europe will resolve the problem,” said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn.

One key question to Syria’s future leaves Europe divided, however — how best to support the Syrian opposition.

Many capitals remain reluctant to provide support due to continuing internal divisions and the presence of Islamist extremists fighting on its behalf.

“The opposition needs to come together and find a way to represent all the poeple of Syria,” Ashton said on arriving for the talks. “It is very important that minorities not be excluded.”

France was expected to urge its partners at Friday’s talks to find ways to help funnel medicines, cash and other resources to civilians trapped in rebel-held areas.

Britain reiterated that no EU country would provide weapons given the bloc’s agreement to slap an embargo on delivery of arms both to Assad’s regime and its opponents.

“Our chosen route — it’s the same route for France and the United States — is to give non lethal assistance,” Hague said, adding that London had sent communications equipment and water purification kits to some of the opposition groups and was thinking about sending protective clothing to some as well.