The United States and its international partners called on Friday for global sanctions against Bashar Assad’s regime, seeking to step up the pressure after the defection of a top general dealt a blow to the Syrian leader. Washington urged countries around the world to pressure Russia and China into forcing Mr. Assad to leave power.
A Western official told The Associated Press that Syrian Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass had abandoned Mr. Assad’s regime. Brig. Gen. Tlass was a member of the elite Republican Guards and a son of a former defence minister. The official wasn’t authorised to divulge the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Syria: Timeline — From 1920 to merger with Egypt | From Ba’ath takeover to Syria uprising
Brig. Gen. Tlass’ whereabouts are unclear. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other opposition websites claimed he had fled to Turkey. It is arguably the highest profile departure from the Assad regime in 16 months of brutal government crackdowns and civil war.
In Paris, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined senior officials from about 100 other countries to win wider support for a Syrian transition plan unveiled last week by U.N. mediator Kofi Annan. Joined by America’s allies, she called for “real and immediate consequences for non-compliance, including sanctions,” against the Assad regime.
But with neither Moscow nor Beijing in attendance, much remained dependent on persuading the two reluctant U.N. veto-wielding powers to force Mr. Assad into abiding by a ceasefire and the transition strategy. Ms. Clinton urged governments around the world to direct their pressure toward Russia and China, as well.
“What can every nation and group represented here do,” Ms. Clinton asked. “I ask you to reach out to Russia and China, and to not only urge but demand that they get off the sidelines and begin to support the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.”
“I don’t think Russia and China believe they are paying any price at all nothing at all for standing up on behalf of the Assad regime,” she added. “The only way that will change is if every nation represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and China will pay a price. Because they are holding up progress, blockading it. That is no longer tolerable.”
Frustrated by the difficult international diplomacy, Syria’s fractured and frustrated opposition is seeking quick military actions instead.
“We’re sick of meetings and deadlines. We want action on the ground,” said activist Osama Kayal in the northern city of Khan Sheikhoun, which has been under Syrian army fire for days. He spoke via Skype from a nearby village.
But military intervention is not on the immediate horizon. U.S. officials say they are focusing on economic pressure, and the Obama administration says it won’t intervene militarily or provide weapons to the Syrian rebels for what it considers to be an already too-militarised conflict. Any international mandate for military intervention would almost certainly be blocked by Russia and Moscow in the U.N. Security Council.
U.S. officials say a U.N. resolution could be introduced next week, but one that only seeks further economic pressure on Mr. Assad’s government. Even the chances for that action are unclear, with Russia and China effectively watering down Mr. Annan’s blueprint for transition at a conference in Geneva last weekend. It granted Assad veto over any interim government candidate he opposes. The opposition gained the same power.
Activists say more than 14,000 people have been killed since the revolt began.
Brig.Gen. Tlass was probably the most important Sunni figure in Syria’s Alawite-dominated regime.
As the son of long-time Defence Minister Mustafa Tlass, the younger Tlass was a member of the Syrian Ba’ath Party aristocracy, part of a privileged class that flourished under the Assad dynasty.
When Hafez al-Assad died of a heart attack in 2000, Brig. Gen. Tlass helped engineer Mr. Bashar al-Assad’s succession to the presidency and guided the inexperienced young doctor. Brig. Gen. Tlass was the chief figure in a coterie of old regime figures that critics blamed for reining in moves to liberalise the Syrian regime.
Keywords: Syria uprising, Bashar Assad regime, Friends of Syria meeting, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Manaf Tlass defection, Arab Spring
There is credible evidence of the Opposition in Syria (mostly elements
of the much-touted FSA plus some "peaceful democratic protesters")
attacking Syrian Christians and destroying churches etc in the areas
where the Syrian govt has lost control. If "local activist videos" are
enough to indict the Assad govt of massacring Syrians, similarly
sourced videos are enough to indict the FSA and other Opposition
groups of trying to wreak bloody vengeance on minorities they consider
inferior. The West has an alternative interest in seeking to force
Assad out of power, thereby earning the "gratitude" of whoever
replaces the Assad regime - an encirclement of Iran and a probable
booting out of the Russian naval base and arms deals. While I am no
fan of the Iranian regime, I do not want its outmaneuvering to occur
at such a high cost.
western propaganda at its best,with its ability to fool all.A top general defects it says when the truth is he is just a ONE STAR general bottom of the rung in the ladder of generals.
Syria is not Libya. The situation in Syria is much more complex. Syria
may be a one-party - effectively a pseudo - democracy which is
unacceptable by Western standards, but Assad, being from a minority
sect long held as heretical by mainstream Islamic clerics, ensures
that Syria is the most secular and democratic of the Middle Eastern
regimes. We see from other examples of Islamic regimes how the
principle of majority rule ie formal democracy tends to crush the
minorities esp those considered heretical or non-Islamic. What Syria
needs in the form of a pluralistic democracy, to preserve status quo
in society and to ensure the continued well-being of the minorities,
is a confessionalist democracy, like that in Lebanon. That can be
achieved only by virtue of a gradual dialogue-based political
transformation, not a transformation that is the result of sanctions
and bullets.
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