US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton uses harsh words for Russia and China for blocking progress on efforts to end the Syrian conflict as U.N. tries to find a solution on a transition in Syria backed by sanctions.
Syria News / NationalTurk – In some of the strongest U.S. comments yet on Syria crisis that has divided the United Nations Security Council on the verge as if during Cold War period, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted the Paris conference that Russia and China must ‘ pay a price ‘ for blocking U.N. sanctions that might press Bashar Al Assad into stepping down from Syrian throne.
Meanwhile the latest defection of a Syrian general who is a personal friend of President Bashar al-Assad gave a huge boost to anti-government rebels as Western and Arab states met them in Paris on Friday to help purge Bashar Al Assad from power in Syria.
Friends of Syria meeting in Paris : West supports rebels in Syria
In a scorching attack on Russia and China, Hillary Clinton also urged the international community gathered in Paris for a Friends of Syria meeting to pressure both nations to drop their support for Syrian President Bashar Assad.
As she spoke, Manaf Tlas, a brigade commander in the Republican Guard who attended military college with Assad and fled to Turkey this week, was on his way to Paris, where his father, Assad’s father’s defence minister, has also taken up residence, a close family friend.
Syrian general defects to Turkey
There was no immediate sign that defecred Syrian general Tlas would throw in his lot with the rebels and an opposition source stated he had no plans to attend Friday’s meeting of Friends od Syria.
But his defection is the clearest signal yet that some in Assad’s inner circle think his days in power are numbered, as an uprising that began in March 2011 with a groundswell of peaceful protest turns into a civil war with strong sectarian overtones.
While the lightly armed rebels are no match for Syria’s large and well-equipped army, their hope lies in eroding loyalty and conviction within Assad’s establishment to the point where it loses its hold on power.
Syria crisis : US, Russia, China, Turkey More ‘ Syrian’ than Syrian people when profits are to be seized
Syrian armour pushed into the rebel-held northern town of Khan Sheikhoun on Thursday, activists said, adding 11 victims to a death toll dissidents and Western leaders put at over 15,000.
So Hillary Clinton urged countries to “reach out to Russia and China” to demand that they “get off the sidelines and begin to support the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people”.
Syrian tyrant president Bashar al Assad has so far refused to stand down and responded with a fierce military crackdown against the opposition rebels who have been seeking to topple his reign since March 2011 the date when Syrian unrest has emerged.
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Bit of a rant isn’t it? Doesn’t seem to be very prominent on popular media.