Syria: UN to hear Arab League proposals
Guardian UK
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US, UK and France press for security council vote on Syria
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Russia proposes talks between regime and opposition
• Syrian army retakes Damascus suburbs
Protesters in Kafranbel, in north west Syria call for UN support. Photo: YouTube
Fares Chamseddine (the pen-name of a Syrian man living in Britain) argues on Comment is Free that even a watered down UN resolution on Syria would hurt Asssad:
It will be interesting to see how adamant the Russians are that Assad and his family should be allowed to remain in power. Preventing a Libya-style scenario from emerging in Syria does not necessarily preclude a gradual transfer of power to a provisional government of some sort which incorporates elements of both sides. If Russia can be assured that this would not endanger its considerable military and financial investments in Syria, then perhaps we might see such a resolution pass.
That is a lot to hope for, and so far the Russians have given no hints whatsoever that their position regarding Assad's regime is anything but cast in iron.
Still, the Syrian regime has done everything in its power to delay bringing the question of a resolution back to the UN, and that shows this is something which worries them very deeply. Nobody, not even Assad, can take Russia's support for granted, and at some point even the strongest ally could decide that a losing regime is not worth supporting.
YOUTUBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inj9WDPB5nQ&feature=player_embedded
4.34pm: The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC) say 23 people have died in Syria so far today at the hands of the security forces, including two children. It says 10 people have been killed in Idlib in the north-west, where it has reported shelling and clashes between troops and the Free Syrian Army. Nine people have been killed in Homs and one each in Dael,Damascus and Ain Tarma in Damascus Suburbs, according to the LCC. It says security forces used megaphones to order citizens to leave Ain Tarma within an hour.
This video purports to show a house that was shelled in Ma'art Numan in Idlib.
The LCC has posted another video it says represents the first pictures of the devastation wreaked in Saqba, in Damascus suburbs, by the security forces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVS9ekOmM1g&feature=player_embedded
Another video purports to show the heavy security presence in Saqba.
The LCC has also accused the Assad regime of blowing up oil pipelines as part of a policy of "collective punishment" towards civilian opponents of the regime. Both the LCC and the government have opposed each other of blowing up pipelines in Homs today, not the first time the government has made such claims (see 2.56pm).
The LCC says:
Quote:
The latest episode of this series was in Baba Amr, where the regime attempted to blame what it calls "armed terrorist groups," in order to support its false story before the United Nations' security council meeting to discuss the Syrian file.
The regime uses these methods to abuse and intimidate civilians. Reports of suffocation incidents have risen in the areas close to the fires, not to mention the short and long term health risks posed by the burning oil fumes on civilians. This is a part of the regime's collective punishment policy against the areas demanding freedom for Syria. The Syrian regime [has] bombed several oil and gas pipelines since the revolution's beginning.
3.13pm: Here's the full text of the draft resolution on Syria.
This is one of the key passages and main sticking points:
Delegation by the President of Syria of his full authority to his Deputy to fully cooperate with the national unity government in order to empower it to perform its duties in the transitional period.
3.01pm: Foreign Policy magazine has useful pen portraits, plus nicknames, on some of the key players on the UN's manoeuvres on Syria.
They are:
Mr. Consensus: Nabil Elaraby, secretary general of the Arab League
The Tip of the Spear: Hamad Bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar
The No Show: Mohammad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, head of the Arab League monitoring mission
Mr. Nyet: Vitaly Churkin, Russia's U.N. envoy
The Low Key Negotiator: Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
Don't Tread on Me: Bashar Al Jaafari, Syria's U.N. ambassador
The Not-So-Loyal Opposition: Burhan Ghalioun, representative of the Syrian National Council
The Arabist for Assad: Mourad Medelci, Algeria's foreign minister
The Front Man: Mohammed Loulichki, Morocco's UN ambassador
Here's the entry on the "The Euro Faction":
Mark Lyall Grant, Britain's UN ambassador, and Gerard Araud, France's UN have been the driving force behind the negotiations on the draft. Since the beginning of the crisis, they have pushed aggressively for the Security Council to increase pressure on Assad regime. In the latest round, they have cobbled together a fairly wide alliance of countries - including the United States, several Arab governments, and Turkey - in support of an Arab League plan for Syria's political transition. Most of the group's meetings have taken place at the British mission to the United Nations, and British and French diplomats have lead the drafting process. Germany's U.N. ambassador Peter Wittig, meanwhile, has played an increasingly vocal role in pressing a tougher line in the council on Syria. It was Wittig who first proposed back in December that the Arab League brief the council on its diplomatic efforts to end the crisis. At the time, the initiative was dismissed even by Germany's allies. "I wouldn't say there was resistance," said one council diplomat. "But there was no appetite."
2.56pm: The Local Co-ordination Committees claim 16 people have been killed in Syria so far today. The umbrella activist group says nine of the deaths were in Idlib, in the north-west, and six in Homs, where it said 76 people were killed on Monday.
It says four of those reported killed in Idlib were army recruits executed for refusing to open fire on protesters. Video taken by locals [warning: graphic] has bee posted online.
A video purportedly from Babr Amr, a hotbed of resistance, shows a gas pipeline blown up by the security forces today, the LCC claims.
The Syrian government has accused "armed terrorist groups" (its way of describing the opposition) of a number of attacks on gas and oil pipelines since the uprising began and the state news agency, Sana, reported: "An armed terrorist group at dawn Monday blew up a gas pipeline extending from Homs to Banyas near al-Rabieh village in Tal Kalakh."
Tal-Kalakh is in Homs but it is unclear whether Sana is referring to the same incident as the LCC.
2.34pm: Turkey has joined in the criticism of Russia ahead of the UN security council meeting, the Turkish daily Zaman reports.
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It quotes this tweet from Ibrahim Kalin, chief adviser to the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Quote:
russia is turning the arab and muslim world against itself in the name of protecting its interests in syria. a bad choice in my view.
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