US and Allies Want Tough UN Resolution on Syria

The US and European powers will work to get the Security Council to bring more pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad even as the UN prepares a mission to Syria this weekend to gather information on the crisis there.

“We support further action in the Security Council through a resolution.”  US Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters after senior UN officials briefed the Security Council on the  situation. “More than ever, the Council should increase pressure on Assad’s regime.”

German, French, Portuguese and British diplomats at the UN joined the US in announcing they would be negotiating the adoption of a Security Council resolution to increase pressure on Syria,where security forces have been cracking down on demonstrators for months, possibly killing as many as 2,000. 

The proposed resolution may run into resistance from Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council.

British Deputy Ambassador Philip Parham said he didn’t want to rule out any elements of a possible resolution the Council might be able to agree on, but said they would likely be based on the type of measures adopted by the EU.

“Asset freezes and travel bans on individuals and entities particularly involved in perpetrating the violence and arms embargoes, those are the kind of measures which we believe will help to discourage those who are responsible and make it harder to continue the violence.” he said. 

A UN Human Rights Council fact-finding report on Syria found evidence Syrian security forces carried out “widespread” and “systematic” human rights violations that could amount to crimes against humanity, Navi Pillay,  UN Human Rights Chief told the Council members in closed door consultations. Pillay also suggested Council members consider referring the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The UNHRC report examines the situation in Syria from March 15th until mid July. Its fact finding team did not have access to Syria, but worked in neighboring countries, basing its findings on video evidence and eye witness accounts. Syrian ambassador to the UN Bashar Jaafari condemend the report for ignoring his government’s version of the events.

Pillay told reporters afterwards she was pleased the Security Council condemned the violence against civilians, but wasn’t holding out much hope it would act on a referral to the ICC. The UN Rights Chief says Security Council members seemed to be looking to President Assad to begin his political reform agenda and argued UNHRC should have a monitoring presence on the ground to ensure the implementation of reform measures she says have so far been undermined by continued right violations. 

The UN, aid agencies and International media organizations have largely been shut out of Syria since violence broke out in March.

 UN Humanitarian Coordinator Valerie Amos told reporters she expected a humanitarian mission led by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to go to Syria this weekend and that the UN has been guaranteed full access for the Assad government.

“We would want to concentrate on those places were there have been reports of fighting so we can see for ourselves what is going on.” she said after the briefing.

The UN Security Council session on Syria  comes as the Obama administration announced today it was officially calling for Assad to leave office and strengthening sanctions against the Syrian authorities and their business interests. 

European leaders Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron also released a joint statement calling on Assad to step down.

 Pressure against the Assad government has been slowly mounting since the Security Council agreed to issue a Presidential statement on August 3rd, condemning the use of force against civilians and calling for an immediate end to all violence. 

Saudi King Abdullah and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan have since both called on Assad to put an end to the government crackdown.

The violence reportedly intensified in Hama and Homs over the past week, and military strikes in the port city of Latakia have allegedly killed several dozen and displaced thousands more since Saturday.

Despite the August 2nd Security Council Statement, a significant number of Council members have been hesitant to condemn the Syrian crackdown too strongly and argued the destruction of state property and death toll suffered by Syrian forces were evidence dangerous armed elements were part of the protests. 

India,Brazil and South Africa, a new diplomatic group referred to as IBSA, have also resisted Western led initiatives to exert more pressure on Syria at the UN. Last week diplomats for all three countries met with Assad to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, speaking to reporters after the Security Council, accused Western powers of using the UN to promote their own interests but said other Security Council members would not support attempts to undermine Syrian sovereignty.

“There is no concrete outcome from this session because, thank God,we still have wise guys inside this Council, who do have different information and who do have contradictory information and do have solid and credible reports…since we are talking about reports.”

Syria Is No Libya: Security Council Deadlocked

The UN Security Council failed to come up with a position on the violence in Syria as it became obvious that members hold different views on the situation in the country and the extent of the reforms the government of Bashir Al Assad has introduced.

 US and European diplomats have been pushing other Council members to adopt a statement condemning the government security force’s increasingly violent crackdown on protests since last Friday.

 But after two days of closed door consultations, UN delegates were no closer  to agreeing on a statement.  

 American Ambassador Susan Rice told an open session of the council the US was considering its own targeted sanctions and called on the international community to condemn the Syrian government’s actions 

 “The Syrian government’s actions until now have not been serious responses to demands of its people.” Rice said “Casting blame on outsiders instead of  addressing its own internal failures is no way for a government to respond to legitimate calls for reform from its people.”

 But other council members, such as China and India, weren’t as quick to condemn the Syrian regime and said they were pleased to see the government make political and civil reforms. 

 Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong said his country was concerned by developments and the regional instability any escalation could create, but noted the al-Assad regime’s reforms as a positive step.

 “We welcome the fact that recently the government of Syria has lifted the state of emergency and announced it will carry out political reforms and start a national dialogue” said the Chinese Ambassador.

 Some delegations also questioned the peaceful nature of the protests.

 Russia’s Deputy Ambassador Alexander Pankin argued that while demonstrators had legitimate demands, casualties suffered by Syrian security forces were evidence of violent elements 

“It is increasingly clear that some of the demonstrations both in Syria and other countries hope that a deteriorating situation could force the international community to help them and take sides. Such approaches lead to a never ending cycle of violence. This is a type of invitation to civil war.” Pankin said, warning that any foreign interference could further destabilize the region.

 UN Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe told the Council he had received reports that Syrian security forces were carrying out military operations around the town of Daara and several other villages outside Damascus, where they were reportedly shelling civilian populated areas. 

 Pascoe said the al-Assad regime has made communication and access to affected areas exceedingly difficult but that most preliminary reports indicate the great majority of casualties are peaceful protesters and civilians.

 Pascoe said there had only been one recorded incident in which demonstrators seized weapons from an abandoned military checkpoint and returned fire, killing Syrian security forces.

 Latest reports from rights groups on the ground indicate more than 100 people have been killed since Friday, bringing the death toll from the start of protests in mid-March to well over 300.

 Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari defended his government’s actions, blaming armed extremists for the escalation in clashes and the death of several dozen members of the country’s security forces. 

 “Authorities have stopped many arms shipment that had been sent to those groups attempting to undermine stability and security in the country. It has been proven that those weapons were sent from overseas by extremist religious groups to their agents inside the country to kill innocent people , to burn private and public institutions and to cause chaos generally” he told the Security Council “It was thus natural under such circumstances for the state to undertake its fundamental responsibility, just like any other state facing such threats and dangers” 

 Jaafari argued that state department had been financially supporting Syrian opposition groups and their mouthpieces for years now, with the intent of taking down the Al Assad regime.

 The Syrian Ambassador also dismissed American accusations that Iran had a hand suppressing the protests, saying that such charges were worthy of a Hollywood film and in fact exposed the American administration’s intent on using the crisis to further its own foreign policy objectives against Tehran.

 The United Nations Human Rights Council is scheduled to convene this Friday to further discuss the situation.  

Giuliani blasts Obama for adviser's meeting with Syria

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke on a conference call to discuss recent allegations made against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) that one of his advisers met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is rumored to sponsor terrorism. Giuliani feels that the lack of disclosure on the part of the Illinois senator shows his inexperience.

Giuliani also said that the adviser offered information to Assad on how to effectively negotiate with the Bush administration, but upon returning to the United States did not disclose this meeting to the public. He concluded by saying that Obama is one of the least experienced presidential candidates in the last 100 years, if not all time. Randy Scheunemann, Senior Foreign Policy Adviser to John McCain, added that Obama's commitment to negotiate with leaders of nations who work with terrorists, as was stated in a debate during the Democratic primaries, also shows Obama's inexperience.