US, Russia at opposite ends on Syria

Friday 4 May 2012

US, Russia at opposite ends on Syria

Twin Bomb Blasts Kill 20 In Syria

Published Friday, May 4, 2012

The United States and Russia resumed their opposing stances on Syria this week, with Washington on Friday blaming the regime for undermining peace efforts, while Moscow earlier in the week chastised rebels for seeking to scuttle the UN peace plan.

The White House accused the Syrian government of failing to abide by the peace plan and condemned a raid on a university in the northern city of Aleppo that left four students dead.

"We continue to hope that the Annan plan succeeds, and we are working to support it in every way possible," spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday, referring to UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's plan to stem the bloodshed.

"However, it is clear, and we will not deny, that the plan has not been succeeding thus far and that the regime [of President Bashar Assad] has made no effort to take any of the steps required," he said.

"If the regime's intransigence continues, the international community is going to have to admit defeat and work to address the serious threat to peace and stability being perpetrated by the Assad regime."

The US position appears to diverge significantly from Moscow, which accused armed rebels of deliberately trying to derail Annan's plan.

Russia "decisively condemns the new terrorist sorties," the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, referring to bombings in Idlib and an attack on Syria's central bank on Monday.

The attacks "in essence unleashed a large-scale campaign to destabilize the situation and disrupt...Annan's plan," it said.

"The most recent series of explosions were clearly timed to the arrival in Damascus" of Norwegian Major General Robert Mood, the commander of a UN monitoring mission, it said.

"We believe it is the international community's task not to allow the disruption of implementation of the UN-Arab League envoy's plan. For our part, we will do everything that depends on us to [ensure] violence in Syria ends as soon as possible."

Ismail Haidar

Armed groups have intensified their attacks in recent days, with the assassination on Wednesday night of Ismail Haidar, son of the opposition-leaning Syrian Social Nationalist Party's leader Ali Haidar, along with a fellow party member Fadi Atawneh.

Bassel al-Raya

Syria's news agency said another state figure, national basketball team player Bassel al-Raya, died of his wounds on Thursday after being attacked by unidentified gunmen one week earlier.

The White House also condemned Thursday's raid on Aleppo University, in which four students were killed as troops and armed supporters stormed dormitories following a campus demonstration, according to a rights group.

"We do condemn the raid overnight of a peaceful student protest in Aleppo that was met with live gunfire, beatings, and the arrests of scores of people," Carney told reporters.

"These kinds of acts, which are now routine, laid bare this regime's illegitimacy, and they underscore the urgent need for a political transition."

Syria has been carrying out a crackdown on a popular revolt against the Assad family's 40-year rule. The demonstrations broke out in March 2011 and were inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.

The violence has not let up despite the ceasefire, which went into effect on April 12 as part of a peace plan put forth by Annan and supported by the UN Security Council.

The US and Russia have been at odds over Syria since the uprising began last year. Russia, along with China, has vetoed two Western-backed UN resolutions condemning Assad, fearing Western attempts to exploit the crisis to further their interests.

Russia has repeatedly called for a political solution to the crisis, warning Western powers against any moves to destabilize the country further or intervene militarily.

Moscow has also accused Western states of undermining Annan's peace efforts through its support of rebels, while Washington has been equally critical of Russia's soft stance on Assad.

The United Nations has accused both government forces and armed rebel groups of failing to abide by the plan.

(Al-Akhbar, Reuters, AFP)