Russia threatens to veto U.N.-Syria draft:diplomat. Russia and China veto UN resolution on Syria. "Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now.
He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately. " William Hague, the foreign secretary, said: "The Syrian regime's actions display President Assad's cold-blooded cynicism in the face of mounting international pressure for the UN security council to do its utmost to end the bloodshed. “The escalating violence underlines the critical importance of the security council adding its weight to the Arab League's efforts to end the crisis in Syria.
" The assault began without warning at 10pm on Friday evening, activists in the city and in London said, and lasted five hours. Rami Abdulrahman, of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said his contacts had counted 237 dead, including 99 women and children. Within hours of the bombardment starting, pictures flooded Youtube and television stations of bodies piling up in chaotic aid stations, disfigured by explosions. Russia and China Block U.N. Action on Syrian Crisis.
The veto and the mounting violence underlined the dynamics shaping what is proving to be the Arab world’s bloodiest revolt: diplomatic stalemate and failure as Syria plunges deeper into what many are already calling a civil war.
Diplomats have lamented their lack of options in pressuring the Syrian government, and even some Syrian dissidents worry about what the growing confrontation will mean for a country reeling from bloodshed and hardship. The veto is almost sure to embolden the government of President , which brazenly carried out the assault on Homs on the day that the Security Council had planned to vote.
It came, too, around the anniversary of its crackdown in 1982 on another Syrian city, Hama, by Mr. Assad’s father, Hafez, in which at least 10,000 people were killed in one of the bloodiest episodes in modern Arab history. “It’s quite clear — this is a license to do more of the same and worse,” said Peter Harling, an expert on Syria at the International Crisis Group.
Mr. Mr. Military beginning review of Syria options. By Barbara Starr Although the U.S. focus remains on exerting diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria, the Pentagon and the U.S.
Central Command have begun a preliminary internal review of U.S. military capabilities, CNN has learned. The options are being prepared in the event President Barack Obama were to call for them. Two senior administration officials who spoke about the review to CNN emphasized that U.S. policy for now remains the use of non-military options. Clinton: We need Assad's consent to put troops in Syria.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a clear and unified message coming out of their meeting in Washington, D.C.
Monday: They are looking for a political solution in Syria and won't consider putting international troops there unless the Syrian regime agrees. Clinton and Davotoglu spent the afternoon preparing for the upcoming inaugural meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group this weekend in Tunisia. Following the meeting, they both urged the international community to support the Arab League's recommendations for Syria following their Sunday meeting in Cairo, which included a request for a U.N. -Arab peacekeeping force in Syria. But Clinton said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who the State Department accuses of murdering civilians, would have to agree first.
Report: U.S. drones flying over Syria to monitor crackdown. Update on the Planned Wars Against Syria and Iran. File, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security. File, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security. 'US to announce aerial blockade on Syria' US readies for possibility of intervention without UN resolution, Asharq Al-Awsat reports, citing US military official; plan to include humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees on Turkey's border The Pentagon is readying for the possibility of intervention in Syria, aiming to halt Syrian President Bashsar Assad's violent crackdown on protesters, the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Saturday, citing a US military offical.
According to the official, the intervention scenario calls for the establishment of a buffer zone on the Turkish border, in order to receive Syrian refugees. The Red Cross would then provide the civilians humanitarian aid, before NATO crews would arrive from Turkey and join the efforts. Russia accuses West of arming Syrian rebel... JPost. MOSCOW - Russia said on Friday that the West was stoking the conflict in Syria by sending weapons to the opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
In an attempt to deflect criticism of Russia for blocking a UN Security Council resolution urging Assad to give up power, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Western states were stirring up trouble in Syria, where Assad has pursued a violent crackdown since March on protests against his 11-year rule. "Western states inciting Syrian opposition to uncompromising actions, as well as those sending arms to them, giving them advice and direction, are participating in the process of fomenting the crisis," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying.
He did not specify which nations were arming Syrian rebels. On Sunday Russia and China vetoed a Western-Arab draft UN resolution that called on Assad to quit. That drew US and European criticism which Russia dismissed as hysterical. State Dept.: Russia and Iran still arming Bashar al-Assad. Russia and Iran are continuing to send arms to the Syrian regime that can be used against protesters, a top State Department official said today.
"Iran is resupplying Syria and through Syria has supplied weapons to Hezbollah," said Tom Countryman, the assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, at a Wednesday morning breakfast meeting of the Defense Writers Group in Washington. Countryman's bureau plays a major role in monitoring international compliance with nonproliferation and arms control rules. He declined to go into specifics on what arms Iran and Russia are giving the regime of Bashar al-Assad, but he confirmed that both countries are still supplying arms that can be used to attack civilians and opposition groups inside Syria, who are engaged in an increasingly bloody struggle with the government. Russia upgrades radar station in Syria to aid Iran. JERUSALEM — Russia has upgraded a surveillance station it maintains in Syrian territory in order to provide Iran early warning of an Israeli attack, according to the Israeli security-related blog Debkafile.
The surveillance station, located south of Damascus, had been able to monitor air traffic in Israel as far south as Tel Aviv, as well as northern Jordan and western Iraq. Since the upgrade, its range reportedly extends to all parts of Israel and Jordan and as far south as the northern part of Saudi Arabia. Russia boosts arms sales to Syria despite world pressure. China calls US critique on Syria "super arrogant"
27 February 2012Last updated at 08:20 Syrians voted during a referendum on a new constitution on Sunday.
Exclusive: Venezuela ships fuel to war-torn Syria. Obama asks Assad to ‘step aside,’ condemns mass murder in Homs. President Barack Obama on Saturday accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government of murdering civilians in an “unspeakable assault” in the city of Homs, and demanded that Assad step down, a day after more than 400 civilians across the country were killed. “Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now.
He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately,” Obama said in a statement. Syria: Bashar al-Assad's gunmen 'murder three entire families in Homs' International 'militarisation' in Syria growing closer, warns US official. Assad forces mull use of chemical weapons in Homs, opposition says. CBRNE in Syria on Wednesday, 15 February, 2012 at 04:27 (04:27 AM) UTC. EDIS CODE: CR-20120215-34173-SYR. Did Syria's army use sat-phone surveillance to hunt down and kill journalists? Fmr. Officer Says Syrian Troops Used Chem. Weapons - Middle East. An officer who recently defected from the Syrian army claimed on Monday that the Syrian security forces are using non-conventional weapons in the crackdown against protesters.
The officer, Captain Abd al-Salam Ahmed Abdul Razek, told the Al-Arabiya television network that President Bashar Assad’s security forces were using chemical weapons against the protesters, under the supervision of Russia and Iran. Free Syrian Army is all that stands between civilians and tanks. News from The Associated Press. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- The head of an international mission to Syria charged with destroying the country's chemical weapons called on President Bashar Assad's government Sunday to ensure it meets a deadline to destroy all its toxic chemicals amid a raging civil war.
Also Sunday, four more candidates announced their candidacy for Syria's upcoming June presidential election, state television announced, a poll Assad is expected to win. Meanwhile, clashes raging through the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 20 people and wounded over 50, activists reported. ELI5: What's going on in Syria? : explainlikeimfive. Syrian Protesters Throng Streets of Damascus. Hamas ditches Assad, backs Syrian revolt. Senators: U.S. Forces at Risk Due to Syrian Chemical Weapons - DOTMIL.
Several senators are raising concerns that unrest in Syria could allow that nation's chemical and other weapons to be used against U.S. forces and allies in the region. "The growing breakdown of order and security in Syria could place its significant stockpiles of poison gases and operational chemical weapons at risk," Maine Republican Susan Collins, New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, and New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen wrote in a February 17 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. DOTMIL obtained a copy of the letter. Syria: the horror of Homs, a city at war. Six-day death toll in Homs blitz 'exceeds 400' - SYRIA.
News from The Associated Press. Report: Syrian general gunned down in Damascus. NEW: Nearly 700 have died in past week, opposition group saysSlain Brig. Gen. Syrian Christians Fear Genocide if al-Assad Falls to Muslim Extremists. Catholic bishops are warning that if the Bashar al-Assad (left) regime in Syria falls to Islamists, there may well be a mass genocide of Christians, such as seen in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Though Christians cannot support the brutality of the Assad dictatorship, few believe that rule by Muslim extremists will be any better. Report: Top Iran military official aiding Assad's crackdown on Syria opposition.