Syria conflict ‘getting worse’, no plan to send U.N. peacekeepers: Brahimi
Monday, 29 October 2012
U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will go to the U.N.
Security Council in November with new proposals to push for talks
between the Syrian president and the opposition. (AFP)
The crisis in Syria is going from bad to worse, U.N.-Arab League
peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said after talks in Moscow with Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“The situation is bad and getting worse,” Brahimi told reporters, lamenting that a truce he had helped broker over the Eid al-Adha holiday had collapsed.
Making the comments after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Brahimi said that there was no immediate plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to Syria.
He expressed regret that the U.N.-brokered truce had not been more successful in Syria but said he would not let this discourage his peace efforts.
Meanwhile, Lavrov said that there will never be a resolution of the Syrian crisis without a dialogue with the Syrian government. He noted that there should be more pressure on Damascus and the Syrian opposition for applying ceasefire and moving to diplomatic solution.
Russia was hosting Brahimi to seek new ways of tackling the crisis in Syria after a truce failed to take hold, as Syrian warplanes hammered Damascus with loud explosions shaking the capital on the fourth day of a Muslim holiday marked by the failure of a ceasefire bid.
“The situation is bad and getting worse,” Brahimi told reporters, lamenting that a truce he had helped broker over the Eid al-Adha holiday had collapsed.
Making the comments after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Brahimi said that there was no immediate plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to Syria.
He expressed regret that the U.N.-brokered truce had not been more successful in Syria but said he would not let this discourage his peace efforts.
Meanwhile, Lavrov said that there will never be a resolution of the Syrian crisis without a dialogue with the Syrian government. He noted that there should be more pressure on Damascus and the Syrian opposition for applying ceasefire and moving to diplomatic solution.
Russia was hosting Brahimi to seek new ways of tackling the crisis in Syria after a truce failed to take hold, as Syrian warplanes hammered Damascus with loud explosions shaking the capital on the fourth day of a Muslim holiday marked by the failure of a ceasefire bid.
Russia had thrown its support
behind Brahimi’s call for Bashar al-Assad’s army and the rebels to lay
down arms during the Eid al-Adha holiday.
However shelling and car bombings resumed hours after the ceasefire had been due to take effect on Friday, with each side blaming the other for breaking it.
Russia has blamed the rebels for the failure to contain the violence, with deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov charging that “the opposition foiled the ceasefire,” making clear its “intent to continue violence.”
Moscow has repeatedly criticized Western powers for obstructing peace efforts in Syria and last week alleged that the United States was coordinating arms deliveries to the rebels, which the State Department has called “ludicrous.”
Russia and China have repeatedly vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions threatening action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Moscow came under fire earlier this month for delivering radar systems to Damascus on a civilian plane, leading the U.S. to declare its Syria policy “morally bankrupt.”
President Vladimir Putin shot back with a declaration that Russia will trade weapons with whomever it wants, as long as deliveries do not defy U.N. sanctions.
Brahimi, who became the Syria envoy after his predecessor Kofi Annan quit when his five-point Syria peace plan fell through, will go to the U.N. Security Council in November with new proposals to push for talks between Assad and the opposition.
He is also due to visit China.
He had hoped that the Eid truce might lead to a more permanent ceasefire and a political solution of the conflict.
However shelling and car bombings resumed hours after the ceasefire had been due to take effect on Friday, with each side blaming the other for breaking it.
Russia has blamed the rebels for the failure to contain the violence, with deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov charging that “the opposition foiled the ceasefire,” making clear its “intent to continue violence.”
Moscow has repeatedly criticized Western powers for obstructing peace efforts in Syria and last week alleged that the United States was coordinating arms deliveries to the rebels, which the State Department has called “ludicrous.”
Russia and China have repeatedly vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions threatening action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Moscow came under fire earlier this month for delivering radar systems to Damascus on a civilian plane, leading the U.S. to declare its Syria policy “morally bankrupt.”
President Vladimir Putin shot back with a declaration that Russia will trade weapons with whomever it wants, as long as deliveries do not defy U.N. sanctions.
Brahimi, who became the Syria envoy after his predecessor Kofi Annan quit when his five-point Syria peace plan fell through, will go to the U.N. Security Council in November with new proposals to push for talks between Assad and the opposition.
He is also due to visit China.
He had hoped that the Eid truce might lead to a more permanent ceasefire and a political solution of the conflict.
Meanwhile, the Syrian military on
Monday launched the heaviest air strikes seen in the country since
warplanes were first deployed over the summer, the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said.
“There have been 34 air raids across the country over three hours this morning. These are the heaviest air strikes since warplanes were first deployed over the summer,” the watchdog’s director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The explosions, which appeared to come from several different districts, could be heard over about two hours and were among the most intense in the city since the beginning of the 19-month conflict.
The Syrian Revolution General Council, a network of opposition activists on the ground, said the air strikes were northeast of the capital in and around the suburb of Harasta, a rebel stronghold.
Clashes broke out in Harasta, as three civilians were killed in shelling and gunfire in the nearby town of Duma, another opposition bastion, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Syrian state television said that a car bombing killed at least 10 people in the predominantly Christian and Druze area of Jaramana near Damascus on Monday.
“A terrorist car bombing next to a bakery on Rawda Street killed at least 10 people, including women and children,” the television said.
Overnight, troops pounded rebel positions in the outer southern district of al-Hajar al-Aswad, as explosions were heard in the nearby Qadam neighborhood, where clashes erupted, it said.
In the northern metropolis of Aleppo, where fighting has raged since mid-July, sporadic clashes took place overnight across the city, said the Observatory, which relies on a countrywide network of activists, lawyers and medics in civilian and military hospitals.
Elsewhere in Aleppo province, two men were killed in shelling on the town of Hayan, while the army also bombarded the towns of Kfar Hamra and Aandan, the Observatory said.
Warplanes also shelled a village in the northwestern province of Idlib near Maaret al-Numan, which rebels seized on Oct. 9, cutting off a key army supply line on the Damascus-Aleppo highway.
The Observatory also reported that 14 soldiers were wounded in fierce clashes with rebels outside the Wadi Daif military base, near Maaret al-Numan.
The violence followed a day in which 134 people -- 51 civilians, 35 soldiers and 48 rebels -- were killed nationwide on Sunday.
The Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011 as a peaceful movement, has steadily militarized after being met with brutal state repression and has left more than 35,000 people dead, according to rights groups.
Most rebels, like the population, are Sunni Muslims in a country dominated by a minority regime of Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
“There have been 34 air raids across the country over three hours this morning. These are the heaviest air strikes since warplanes were first deployed over the summer,” the watchdog’s director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The explosions, which appeared to come from several different districts, could be heard over about two hours and were among the most intense in the city since the beginning of the 19-month conflict.
The Syrian Revolution General Council, a network of opposition activists on the ground, said the air strikes were northeast of the capital in and around the suburb of Harasta, a rebel stronghold.
Clashes broke out in Harasta, as three civilians were killed in shelling and gunfire in the nearby town of Duma, another opposition bastion, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Syrian state television said that a car bombing killed at least 10 people in the predominantly Christian and Druze area of Jaramana near Damascus on Monday.
“A terrorist car bombing next to a bakery on Rawda Street killed at least 10 people, including women and children,” the television said.
Overnight, troops pounded rebel positions in the outer southern district of al-Hajar al-Aswad, as explosions were heard in the nearby Qadam neighborhood, where clashes erupted, it said.
In the northern metropolis of Aleppo, where fighting has raged since mid-July, sporadic clashes took place overnight across the city, said the Observatory, which relies on a countrywide network of activists, lawyers and medics in civilian and military hospitals.
Elsewhere in Aleppo province, two men were killed in shelling on the town of Hayan, while the army also bombarded the towns of Kfar Hamra and Aandan, the Observatory said.
Warplanes also shelled a village in the northwestern province of Idlib near Maaret al-Numan, which rebels seized on Oct. 9, cutting off a key army supply line on the Damascus-Aleppo highway.
The Observatory also reported that 14 soldiers were wounded in fierce clashes with rebels outside the Wadi Daif military base, near Maaret al-Numan.
The violence followed a day in which 134 people -- 51 civilians, 35 soldiers and 48 rebels -- were killed nationwide on Sunday.
The Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011 as a peaceful movement, has steadily militarized after being met with brutal state repression and has left more than 35,000 people dead, according to rights groups.
Most rebels, like the population, are Sunni Muslims in a country dominated by a minority regime of Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Labels: Arab League, Conflict, Crisis Politics, Middle East, Syria, Traditions, United Nations
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