West tries to push for new resolution
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E-mail Xinhua, July 13, 2012
The Western allies are trying to push for a new UN Security Council resolution on Syria that could entail military operations amid Russia's opposition.
Britain has circulated a new text for a new Security Resolution that says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should pull out troops and heavy weapons from populated areas within 10 days otherwise he would face non-military sanctions, however, the resolution is demanded to be adopted under the chapter 7 of the UN charter, which would allow the resolution to be imposed militarily.
Imposing a resolution under chapter 7 has always been a favorable demand for the West-backed Syrian opposition in exile, which has been refusing any form of dialogue since the start of the unrest. The opposition's stance has laid obstacles for the political efforts to solve the crisis peacefully.
International peace envoy Kofi Annan has put forward a six- point peace plan that calls for a cessation of violence in order to pave the way for a national dialogue. However, the plan hasn't taken hold since the very beginning due to the continuation of fights between the Syrian troops and the armed rebels, who have grown more armed amid reports indicating they are getting financial support and military supplies from the Gulf States, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Observers believe that the West has not been sincere to help end the suffering of the Syrians as it has capitalized on the Syrian people's aspiration for a better future and more freedom and utilized the crisis to apply their regional agenda that entail breaking the Syrian-Iranian ties to isolate Iran and undercut its nuclear programs.
The Syrian crisis has already spilled into neighboring Lebanon as fights between Assad's opponents and proponents in Lebanon intensified lately.
The neighboring countries of Syria, such as Turkey and Lebanon, have played big roles in the 16-month crisis. Both countries harbor a considerable number of armed Syrian and foreign fighters seeking to topple Assad by force.
As the crisis grow more militarized with each party determined to vanquish the other by force, prospect of a dialogue is a far- fetched dream.
Meanwhile, the clashes are inching toward the heart of the capital, Damascus lately, in a show of determination by the armed elements to escalate the situation.
Amid all the chaos, Annan has been trying to salvage his peace efforts by calling for support from Iran and Iraq, the allies to the Damascus government.
However, the United States and its Western allies said they do not see a role of Iran in the crisis, insisting on passing more sanctions and challenge Assad by espousing a resolution that could be enforced military.
Russia and China have stood firm in the face of the Western resolutions in the past.
Political experts believe that the Russian stance emanates from the opinion that the West are practicing pressure on the Syrian administration to halt the violence by slamming it with all kind of sanctions and at the same time supporting the opposition to keep up their tactics against the Syrian leadership.
Commenting on the West-backed resolution, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Thursday that Russia will not let the UN Security Council pass a draft resolution to impose sanctions against Syria.
Gatilov said such a resolution would be "unacceptable."
"If they decide to do this (to have a vote on the draft resolution) -- knowing it would be unacceptable to us -- then we will not let it pass," Gatilov said.
The UN said at least 9,000 Syrians were killed in the year-long unrest that started in March 2011, while the activists' group, Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, placed the death toll of Syria's 16-month unrest at 17, 129, among them 11, 897 were civilians.
There has been no independent confirmation of the activists' accounts.
The protracted violence in Syria has also forced 103,000 of its citizens to seek refuge in neighboring Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, the UN humanitarian affairs agency said last week.
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