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. The focus on diplomatic options was underscored by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in an interview with CNN on Tuesday. "Before we start talking about military options, we very much want to ensure that we have exhausted all the political, economic and diplomatic means at our disposal," Ambassador Susan Rice said on CNN's “Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”
The president has also said that the U.S. is working on non-military options first. But the military is beginning to look at what can be done. It would be Gen. 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.
"We support the Arab League's decisions coming out of the meeting in Cairo to try to end the violence and move toward a transition. "It's my eating diplomacy," Clinton said. 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. Related articles: The measure would pave the way for the US to declare an aerial blockade on Syria. The intercession is to be modeled after NATO's efforts in Kosovo, which brought an end to the Serbian control of the region. NATO's plan of action included prolonged aerial shelling. 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. "We do not believe that Russian shipments of weapons to Syria are in the interests of Russia or Syria," he said. 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. According to the report, Russia has introduced cutting-edge technology to the station and expanded its manpower. Russia has taken a firm stand against any military attack on Iran or any attempt to force Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said this week that Russia is concerned about the threat of an attack against Iran. “If it happens, the fallout would be truly catastrophic,” he said, also warning that any outside attempt to displace Mr. 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 China has hit out at comments by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on its stance on Syria.
A foreign ministry spokesman called the comments unacceptable, and the official Communist Party newspaper described the criticism as "super arrogant". Mrs Clinton on Friday called China and Russia's veto of a UN resolution on Syria "despicable". The Chinese criticism came a day after Syria held a national referendum on a new constitution, amid violent unrest. The referendum calls for a multi-party parliamentary election within three months. 'Patronising' Ms Clinton made her remarks at the Friends of Syria conference in Tunisia, a meeting of diplomats boycotted by China and Russia that sought an end to the crisis.
The US Secretary of State said it was "quite distressing" to see two Security Council members using their vetoes "while people are being murdered". 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. The U.S. president’s blunt condemnation came amid reports that more than 200 civilians were killed by Syrian forces in a night of shelling of residential areas in the flashpoint city of Homs.
More than 200 others were reported killed by security forces elsewhere in the country. “Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help,” Obama said.
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.
Razek, who served in the Syrian army’s chemical warfare unit, said that the Syrian military used nerve gas - which is prohibited under various international treaties - to facilitate the entry of troops to the city of Homs. He added that the army also possesses toxic substances which originate in Russia, and said that a small amount of these materials could lead to widespread destruction of an entire population. Razek noted that the use of the chemical weapons was carried out under the supervision of Russian and Iranian experts, who instructed the army when and where to use it. 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. Sigrid Kaag of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons told reporters in Damascus that 92.5 percent of Syria's chemical materials had been removed from the country and destroyed. She called it "significant progress," although she called on Syria's government to ensure remaining materials would be eradicated by the end of April.
Syrian officials did not comment on Kaag's remarks. Surk reported from Beirut. 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. [See pictures of the violence in Syria] The senators want the Obama administration to spell out the planning it has done to prepare for and "address" the potential that the Assad regime's stockpiles of chemical weapons might go missing. "In the event of a regime collapse, it is difficult to overstate the danger these weapons could pose to allies and U.S. forces in the region if they fall into the wrong hands," the letter states. 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. Issa al-Kholi was a physicianFree Syrian Army officer says the regime could have killed the generalViolence rages in Homs, Daraa and the Damascus region Are you there? Send us your images or video (CNN) -- A Syrian general was gunned down in the heart of the capital on Saturday, according to state media, as fresh violence flared in several cities and world powers mulled a way to halt the government's bloody offensive against civilians. An "armed terrorist group" assassinated Brig. The killing occurred "In the framework of targeting the Syrian intellectuals and the medical and technical cadres," SANA reported. "A number of efficient, skilled and specialized national cadres were assassinated by armed terrorist groups," said SANA, which cited the killings of a professor, a nuclear specialist, a teacher and a couple of engineers.
Free Syrian Army Lt. Satellite images show damage in Homs Syria activists plead for help. 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. Syria — home to Damascus, one of the most important cities of the ancient world and of special religious significance to Christians — has long had a tolerant attitude toward religious minorities. Syria's Christians — estimated to be about 10 percent of the population, or 2.5 million — cherish this tradition of non-religious government. The Ba'athist Party of Syria had a counterpart in the Ba'athist Party of Iraq, whose last leader was Saddam Hussein.
Ignatius Joseph III, Patriarch of the Syrian Catholic Church, explained the plight of the Syrian Christians: The Christians in Syria face a dilemma. Look at what happened in Egypt and Iraq. Report: Top Iran military official aiding Assad's crackdown on Syria opposition.