Sunday 10 June 2012

Russia FM: A Bus transporting Russian specialists was attacked in Damascus

(DP-News - agencies)
Russia FM Lavrov
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MOSCOW- A bus carrying Russian passengers came under fire in Syria on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“Today a bus that was carrying Russian specialists was attacked in western Damascus,” Lavrov said, noting that it was not the first such incident.

On Friday, a building in Damascus where Russian specialists live was fired at from a grenade launcher.

“One grenade hit the second floor wall, causing damage to the building. Fortunately, no one was injured,” Lavrov said.

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, in a televised press conference in Moscow on Saturday, said that Russia will not change its stance of rejecting military intervention in Syria because of the dire consequences it would have on the entire region.
The Russian foreign minister also gave a briefing on a Russian proposal for an international conference on Syria.

Lavrov stressed that Russia will not allow passing any Security Council resolution that allows the use of force against Syria.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin is against the Western demands and has called for action in “an accurate, balanced manner” in Syria.
“Why are we thinking that if we push the current (Syrian) leadership from power, then tomorrow general wellbeing will begin there,” Putin said during a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande in Paris on June 1.

The situation in Syria has come close to a wide-scale civil war. Kofi Annan’s peace plan is not being implemented war. Such assessments were made at the United Nations after a new bloody massacre near Hama and the opposition’s opting out of the Armistice Agreement. Despite that Moscow calls for saving the UN-backed settlement plan for Syria and for working out a mechanism for the fulfillment of this plan at a new international conference.  
It is necessary to persuade the armed opposition to enter into dialogue with the authorities. Moscow calls for the convocation of an international conference on Syria with the participation of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and also with the participation of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. The League of Arab States (LAS), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the European Union (EU), and the United Nations are also invited to take part because Moscow suggests that it should be held under the UN auspices.
The main thing is to reach agreement in using their political influence on Damascus and on various opposition groups obliging them to observe the cease-fire regime. And next step will be to establish a dialogue between them.

Meanwhile, a group of UN observers continue monitoring a ceasefire that was part of a six-point peace plan presented by the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, in March.
Annan told UN "everyone is looking for a solution" but acknowledged doubts about a peace deal he brokered, which calls for a ceasefire and dialogue to end more than a year of violence aimed at toppling Assad.
A UN diplomat, speaking anonymously, said "there will be action in the coming days to get a vote on a resolution which includes measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter -- which would mean sanctions."

Chapter VII allows for sanctions and, in extreme cases, military action. Russia and China, infuriated by the NATO campaign in Libya last year, have vowed to oppose any military intervention.

The Syrian government has frequently stated that the foreign-sponsored “saboteurs and terrorists” are responsible for the deadly turmoil that began in March 2011.

On June 3, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a televised address to the parliament that Syria is “facing a war waged from the outside,” stressing that “Standing up against the conspiracy is not easy, but we will overcome the obstacles.”
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