No compromise: UNSC split on Syria

Division among UN Security Council members on the situation in Syria grows deeper. While Moscow insists on a compromise to end the crisis without any ultimatums, the US and Germany reiterate their calls for the body to act on Damascus.

The Russian Foreign Ministry urged on Tuesday to stop using language of ultimatums in dealing with Syria, adding the disorders within the country are instigated mostly by an armed opposition rather than the country’s officials. “Now it is necessary to stop acting through ultimatums and try to redirect the situation into a political course,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference on Tuesday. “The armed people are treating the peaceful population very cruelly, and it concerns not only the security officials, but more so those armed groups, who instigate the disorders,” continued Lavrov, saying that such cruelties should be stopped. “But this concerns not only the actions of the authorities, but, in the larger decree, of those armed groups, who have been working in Syria and who are in close contact with a number of Western and Arab countries,” he concluded.He also said that Moscow opposes an arms embargo on Syria, referring to the Libyan scenario and " based on the experience it gained in Libya". Lavrov’s speech comes after US and Germany have renewed their calls for the UN Security Council to take action in response to alleged atrocities committed by Syrian regime forces against demonstrators.The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said “we think it is time to revisit the question," as cited by Associated Press. While the Germany's ambassador Peter Wittig called for the council to “take up that decision and endorse and reinforce it”. The comments follow the UN report condemning "crimes against humanity" by Syrian security forces, which was announced on Monday. It insists Syrian security forces, along with militias, were given "shoot-to-kill" orders to crush demonstrations. More than 3,500 people have been killed during the eight-month uprising.But Russia’s Foreign Minister insists the document does not reflect the official point of view of the UN as an organization, but rather reflects only opinion of the representatives of its Secretariat.  “The official UN position is announced only by its chief bodies. It is the UN Security Council first of all and the General Assembly, but neither of them has made any reports,” he said. Russia has repeatedly pledged to prevent a Libya-style scenario unfolding in Syria and backed up its promise by vetoing together with China the UN resolution on Syria on October 5.Meanwhile, pressure on Syrian government grows further as Turkish Foreign Minister said on Tuesday that the regime that tortures its own people has no chance of survival. Recently, the Arab League approved sweeping sanctions targeting Syria for its crackdown on protesters.But Lebanese Professor Jamal Wakim believes the Arab League’s decision is a stepping stone in internationalizing the crisis and isolating the Syrian regime so that it gets toppled and replaced by a Muslim fundamentalist one, a move that plays into the hands of the United States. “This violence is instigated by foreign powers,” he told RT. “Of course, there is a complaint about the regime in Syria by local forces. However, the people involved in the reaction against the regime are financed and supported by mainly the US and by its allies. The reason for this is that they want to topple the regime in order to align Syria to the American camp totally. And the bigger American strategy, to contain the rising Russian and Chinese powers.”

Peter Eyre, a Middle East Consultant, told RT further sanctions will not be much of a help for Western states to end the violence in Syria.

“Obviously the people of Syria are the ultimate victims. What we have here is the tip of the iceberg of the Arab Spring which is over-influenced by the West infiltrating into Syria,” he explained. “So when the International Court of Justice or the UN or Geneva start pointing fingers at the regime within Syria, they have to understand a lot of trouble is flared up from the Western side. They are very much involved and they are just intimidating the situation. A lot of people have been killed by Special Forces, CIA or Mossad, so what you see is like a Shakespearean play – the actors are Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy, Clinton and William Hague. Why would we have to go to the Middle East to learn the truth?” he concluded.