Syria, Russia criticize Britain's calls against Assad
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Xinhua, November 22, 2011
British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday called on Syrian opposition to "unite" against President Bashar al-Assad, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov chided such calls from Western countries as provocation.
"It is important for opposition groups to be able to put aside their own differences and come to a united view of the way forward," Hague made the remarks after meeting with Syrian opposition representatives in London on Monday.
However, he said Britain was not ready to recognize the Syrian opposition as the country's legitimate government.
"We are not at the point of a formal recognition, partly because there is not a single council as there was in Libya. They are not in control of territory in Syria as the council was in Libya and the international community has not reached that point," Hague said.
Meanwhile, Lavrov said that "so far, when the Arab League (AL) urges to stop the violence and start dialogues, Western countries and some countries in the region call for the opposition to avoid such dialogues with Bashar al-Assad's regime."
Abuses over international law and the UN authority cannot be allowed, Lavrov added.
The remarks of Hague and Lavrov came after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's confirmation that he would press on with a crackdown against what he called armed groups targeting civilians, policemen, army personnel in his country despite increased pressure from the AL.
"The conflict will continue and the pressure to subjugate Syria will continue," Assad told the Britain's Sunday Times newspaper. "However, I assure you that Syria will not bow down and that it will continue to resist the pressure being imposed on it," he said.
Commenting on Assad's remarks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Monday that the Syrian regime was destined to fall sooner or later.
"No matter how hard you try to hold on to power with your tanks and your weapons, a day will come and you will go," said Erdogan at a meeting with chief Muslim clerics from African countries and communities held in Istanbul.
The AL peace plan reached with Syria earlier this month has virtually perished, with each side blaming the other of showing no sincerity. The Syrian authorities said that the plan contains "impossible" phrases that encroach upon Syria's sovereignty while the AL said that Syria has demanded amendments that contradict the plan's essence.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said that some Arab states are using the AL as a tool to take the Syrian file to the UN Security Council, but stressed that "there would be no civil war no matter how they tried to ignite it ... thanks to the awareness of the Syria people."
In yet another move to place pressure on Damascus, the AL has said that it will sponsor a meeting combining different opposition figures to help them form a united front.
Now, there are mounting calls among Syrians, even anti-regime activists, to halt all kinds of violent acts whether they are against government's targets or not as armed resistance has practically become true.
The so-called Syrian Free Army (SFA), an opposition armed force composed of army defectors, has recently attacked the headquarters of air intelligence forces in Damascus' suburb of Harasta, which was denied by the government.
The SFA claimed responsibility for the Harasta attack, and its founder, Riyad al-Assaad, a Turkey-based defected army colonel, said during an interview with al-Jazeera TV that the SFA is an armed opposition force that has its own weapons and funds.
Opposition groups claimed that the ruling al-Baath party's building in the very heart of Damascus was hit at dawn on Sunday by two rocket-propelled grenades. But Moallem said that such news is absolutely baseless and Syria's state-run TV aired footage of the building which looks intact.
However, residents at the area confirmed that they awoke at a loud explosion, a matter the minister had stopped short of explaining.
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