DAMASCUS, Syria
(AP) -- The number of dead in Syria's civil war has passed 100,000,
the U.N. chief said Thursday, calling for urgent talks on ending 2 1/2
years of violence even as President Bashar Assad's government blasted
the United States as an unsuitable peace broker.
In
the latest example of the relentless carnage, a car bomb killed at
least 10 people and wounded 66 in a pro-regime, residential area near
the capital.
All international attempts to
broker a political solution to the Syrian civil war have failed. Despite
a stalemate that has settled in for months, both sides still believe
they can win the war and have placed impossible conditions for
negotiations.
The international community has
been unable - and some say, unwilling - to intervene sufficiently to tip
the balance in favor of either the Assad regime or the rebels.
"There
is no military solution to Syria," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
told reporters at the United Nations. "There is only a political
solution, and that will require leadership in order to bring people to
the table," he said.
He spoke ahead of talks
with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said the death toll had
risen from nearly 93,000 just over a month ago to more than 100,000.
Syrian opposition groups had made that same estimate a month ago.
The uprising against Assad's rule began in March 2011 and deteriorated into an insurgency with growing sectarian overtones.
Ban
called on the Syrian government and opposition to halt the violence,
saying it is "imperative to have a peace conference in Geneva as soon as
possible."
The U.S. and Russia are working to
convene a conference, along with the United Nations, to try to agree on
a transitional government based on a plan adopted in Geneva a year ago.
No
official date has been set because the opposition refuses to attend any
talks that are not about Assad's departure. Syrian government officials
say participation in the conference should be without preconditions,
but add that Assad's departure before his term expires in 2014 is not
negotiable. Assad has also said he has the right to run for elections
again.
Kerry said he talked to Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday and that both countries remained
committed to bringing the warring parties together to further peace
efforts.
"We will try our hardest to make that happen as soon as is possible," Kerry said.
The
comments at the U.N. appeared at odds with what was happening inside
Syria. A U.S. decision to start sending arms to the rebels has further
dimmed peace prospects.
The Syrian government criticized the U.S. actions, saying Washington is unsuitable to act as a broker at any peace negotiations.
"Washington's
decision to send arms to terrorists in Syria confirms that the American
administration is not objective in efforts to find a political solution
and hold an international conference in Geneva," Syrian state TV said,
citing an unidentified Foreign Ministry official. Assad's government
routinely refers to opposition fighters as "terrorists."
"The
American intentions seek to continue the cycle of violence and
terrorism in Syria in order to destabilize ... the region," the
statement said.
The U.S. government opposed
providing any lethal assistance to Syria's rebels until last month but
is moving ahead now with sending weapons to vetted rebels after securing
the approval of the House and Senate Intelligence committees.
President
Barack Obama and his national security team have yet to say publicly
what weapons they'll provide and when they'll deliver them. There has
also been concern in the West that U.S. weapons could end up in the
hands of al-Qaida-linked groups.
The Syrian
National Coalition, the main Western-backed opposition group, said in a
statement that it was committed to ensuring the arms reach only those
loyal to the coalition and its affiliated military councils.
The
Syrian government has gone on the offensive and has succeeded, with the
help of Lebanese Hezbollah militants, in pushing back rebels near
Damascus and in central Homs province.
The White House acknowledged that momentum has shifted as Hezbollah and Iran have helped Assad's forces.
The
rebels are lashing out with stepped up mortar attacks on Damascus, the
seat of Assad's power, and with car bombs that target regime strongholds
and security installations.
Thursday's car
bomb exploded in Jaramana, a suburb just few kilometers (miles)
southeast of Damascus that is overwhelmingly pro-regime.
The
state news agency SANA reported that the blast caused heavy damage to
nearby buildings and destroyed many cars. TV footage showed mangled cars
and heavily damaged residential buildings. No group immediately claimed
responsibility for the bombing.
The
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights initially put the
death toll at 10 but later raised it to 17, saying several of the
wounded had died.
Also Thursday, the Syrian
National Coalition cast doubt on a mission by U.N. experts to
investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in the civil war.
Both
sides accuse each other of using the banned weapons. Swedish chemical
weapons expert Ake Sellstrom and U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane met
with Syrian officials Tuesday in Damascus to try to hammer out terms for
a possible probe.
The coalition said it was
worried the experts would be swayed by Assad, whom they predicted would
try to restrict their movements.
Ban said the U.N. team discussed with Syrian officials "the modalities of investigation."
"Since they're coming out of Syria now, we'll get the report soon," he said.
In
Lebanon, a senior Hezbollah official warned European countries that
there will be "repercussions" to their decision this week to place the
group's military wing on the bloc's list of terrorist organizations.
Hezbollah's
participation in the Syrian war alongside Assad's forces was among the
reasons for the EU decision earlier this week.
Ammar
al-Moussawi, head of Hezbollah's foreign relations department, spoke
after meeting with Angelina Eichhorst, the EU ambassador to Lebanon. He
suggested after the talks that she was not given a warm reception.
"No one can condemn me with one hand, then extend the other to shake hands," he told reporters in Beirut after the meeting.
---
Lederer reported from the United Nations. Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed to this report from Beirut.
No comments:
Post a Comment