EU and US push for Syria resolution

If approved, it would be the first resolution against Syria adopted by the Security Council since Assad’s crackdown began European nations are calling for a vote Tuesday on a U.N. resolution that would consider sanctions if the Syrian government doesn't immediately halt its military crackdown against civilians. Diplomats

said it was unclear whether Russia, which opposes even mentioning the possibility of sanctions against President Bashar Assad's regime, will veto or abstain on the resolution. The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because contacts have been private, said Monday the vote is likely late Tuesday afternoon though contacts between key capitals were still taking place. If approved, it would be the first resolution against Syria adopted by the Security Council since Assad's military began its crackdown in mid-March against protesters. Although the mass demonstrations have shaken one of the Middle East's most authoritarian regimes, the opposition has made no major gains in recent months and holds no territory. The regime blames the unrest on armed gangs and claims security forces are the real victims. The U.N. estimates that more than 2,700 civilians have died since the uprising began.

The Security Council issued a presidential statement in August condemning the escalating violence after months of arguments between supporters and opponents of Assad's regime. Immediately afterward, the Europeans, backed by the United States, pressed for a legally binding council resolution calling for an immediate arms embargo and other sanctions aimed at stopping the Assad government's crackdown on protesters. But Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil were opposed, partly because of fear that the resolution might be used as a pretext for armed intervention against Syria. They argue that the U.N. resolution authorizing the use of force to protect civilians in Libya was misused by NATO to justify months of air strikes against Moammar Gadhafi's regime _ and they oppose any possible repetition in Syria. Early last week, the Europeans presented a new draft resolution that dropped the immediate imposition of sanctions. Instead, it expressed ``determination'' to review within 30 days Syria's compliance with the resolution's demands. They include immediately ending all violence, allowing fundamental rights and freedoms including free expression and peaceful assembly, lifting all media restrictions and allowing unhindered access for human rights investigators.

If Syria had not complied, the draft expressed the council's determination ``to consider the adoption of targeted measures, including sanctions.'' After the Russians rejected it, the Europeans came back with a new text on Thursday that watered down the sanctions language further. The current draft, which is expected to be put to a vote, drops the words ``including sanctions,'' but leaves in ``targeted measures'' _ which can include sanctions. It also ``strongly condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities, such as arbitrary executions, excessive use of force and the killing and persecution of protesters and human rights defenders, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, also of children.'' It expresses ``profound regret at the deaths of thousands of people including women and children,'' calls for the release of all political prisoners and peaceful demonstrators, and demands that Syrian authorities immediately stop violating human rights and stop using force against civilians.

The arms embargo in the original draft is gone. Instead, the latest draft calls on all states ``to exercise vigilance and restraint over the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer to Syria of arms and related materiel.'' It expresses deep concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria and the potential for a further escalation of violence and reaffirms the need to resolve the crisis peacefully, calling for ``an inclusive Syrian-led political process conducted in an environment free from violence, fear, intimidation, and extremism.'' It adds in backing for the Arab League's effort to end the violence and promote a political dialogue. Early last week, the Europeans presented a new draft resolution that dropped the immediate imposition of sanctions. Instead, it expressed “determination” to review within 30 days Syria’s compliance with the resolution’s demands. They include immediately ending all violence, allowing fundamental rights and freedoms including free expression and peaceful assembly, lifting all media restrictions and allowing unhindered access for human rights investigators. The current draft, which is expected to be put to a vote, drops the words “including sanctions,” but leaves in “targeted measures” - which can include sanctions.

The Syrian National Council, a newly launched anti-regime front, has gained mass support in Syria with many people demanding it be recognised as the country's sole authority, activists said on Monday. The popular support on Syria's streets for the SNC, forged Sunday in Turkey, comes as US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta predicted it is "a matter of time" before President Bashar al-Assad's regime is ousted by a popular uprising.  Demonstrations of support" for the SNC were held Sunday in main protest hubs including Hama, Homs, Idlib, Daraa, Deir Ezzor and the province of Damascus, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Protests were also held in the capital's Al-Qadam neighbourhood despite a heavy security presence, the rights watchdog said. More protests -- dispersed by security force gunfire -- were held on Monday in Douma, Daraa, Idlib and Deir Ezzor, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an anti-regime activist network based inside the country. The Syrian National Council reunites the forces of the opposition and the peaceful revolution," Paris-based academic Burhan Ghalioun told reporters at Sunday's launch in Istanbul. Uniting groups across the political spectrum, "it represents the Syrian revolution both inside and outside the country," he said.
"It works to mobilise all categories of people in Syria and give the necessary support for the revolution to progress and realise the aspirations of our people for the overthrow of the regime, its symbols and its head," Ghalioun said. Videos posted on Facebook page "Syrian Revolution 2011," one of the motors of the protest movement against Assad, showed demonstrators at Zabadani, 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Damascus, chanting their support for the new group: "Syrian National Council, our sole and legitimate representative." They also demanded that Assad step down.

In Daraa, the southern flashpoint province where the revolt against Assad's regime began in March, protesters carried banners reading: "We support the Syrian National Council, the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian revolution." Since mid-March, the country has been rocked by an unprecedented pro-democracy protest movement that the Assad regime has sought to crush using deadly force. More than 2,700 people have been killed in the unrest, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Panetta, speaking in Tel Aviv after meeting his Israeli counterpart, said Assad's days were numbered. Washington and other foreign capitals, he said, had "made clear Assad should step down." "While he continues to resist, I think it's very clear that it's a matter of time before that (exit) in fact happens. When it does, we don't know," he said. The Pentagon chief, in a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, said Assad's regime had lost all credibility through its brutal crackdown on dissent. "Anytime you kill your own people as indiscriminately as they have over these last number of months, it's pretty clear that they have lost their legitimacy as a government," Panetta said at a news conference with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.  Assad's regime blames the violence raging for more than six months in Syria on "armed groups."

In Washington, the US Treasury Department moved to block the sale of telecommunications equipment to Syria, the latest in a series of sanctions aimed at isolating Assad's regime. According to a Treasury document signed on Monday, US firms will now be barred from selling the Syrian government, but not to all private firms, telecoms equipment or technology, "including satellite or terrestrial network connectivity." On August 17 President Barack Obama signed an executive order authorising sanctions against the Syrian regime because of what the White House termed a "continuing escalation of violence against the people of Syria."