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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| US breaks with Assad, France seeks UN action |
| 2011-07-13 |
| [Pak Daily Times] The United States said Syrian President Basharal Assad has "lost legitimacy" four months into a deadly revolt against his rule, after the French and US embassies were targeted in angry pro-regime demonstrations. Mobs besieged the US and French embassies on Monday after the ambassadors of the two Western countries last week travelled to the flashpoint protest city of Hama, north of the capital. "President Assad is not indispensable and we have absolutely nothing invested in him ... remaining in power," Clinton said in the toughest US stand since the mid-March outbreak of a revolt against his rule. "From our perspective, he has lost legitimacy. Our goal is to see that the will of the Syrian people for a democratic transformation occurs," she said. Gay Paree, on Tuesday, renewed its demand that the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Security Council take a stance on the crisis in Syria. "La Belle France and other European countries have submitted a proposed resolution to the UN Security Council, which has been blocked by Russia and China," Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in a radio interview. "This is no longer acceptable," he said, branding the attack on his government's Damascus ...The City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... embassy, in which three French personnel were maimed, "extremely violent" and warning that Assad's regime was losing its grip. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "Once again, we call on Syrian authorities to do their duty. All governments should ensure the security of embassies and diplomatic missions." The foreign ministry said three French staff were maimed in the attack, which forced guards to fire three warning shots, while Washington said no staff were hurt in a similar clash at its Damascus compound. As Syrian security forces looked on, Assad supporters smashed their way into the French embassy compound with a battering ram, broke windows and destroyed the ambassador's car, according to a foreign ministry front man in Gay Paree. Last week, the French and US ambassadors to Syria made high-profile visits to the restive city of Hama in a gesture of support to the civilian victims of the violence. The regime reacted with fury, accusing the Western powers of fomenting unrest. Syria's state news agency SANA said hundreds of people on Monday also held a sit-in in front of the French consulate in Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... , accusing Gay Paree of "mobilising the international community" against Damascus. At the US embassy, several demonstrators scaled the complex's high outer wall and others draped a large Syrian flag over the main entrance. The chancery was not breached but some of the crowd of about 300 climbed up on the roof and reached ambassador Robert Ford's residence before being chased away by US marines. |
| Posted by:Fred |