DAMASCUS, Syria ? Saying that ?half the universe? was conspiring against his country, the Syrian foreign minister forcefully rejected a regional attempt to broker an end to the 10-month conflict here on Tuesday and suggested that there would be no end to the government?s use of force to put down the uprising.
Speaking to reporters in Damascus, the foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said armed groups had stepped up attacks on the security services and civilians, and promised that the government would deal with the groups ?firmly.?
Activists reported a sharp escalation of violence in the last two days, saying at least 17 people were killed in one neighborhood alone in troubled Homs, the city that has become a focal point for concerns about Syria?s slide into civil war.
The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group, said that across the country, at least 68 people had been killed.
The growing tensions came as regional and Western countries searched for ways to implement an Arab League proposal that called on President Bashar al-Assad to yield power, an ambitious plan that reflected frustrations at every other effort to stem the killings.
The Arab League is pressing for the United Nations Security Council to endorse its new plan, which also calls on the government to start a dialogue with its opponents that would lead to the formation of a unity government.
At the United Nations on Tuesday, key Western members and their Arab allies drafted a new Security Council resolution that endorses the Arab League action, senior diplomats said. But putting it into play hinged on a briefing from Nabil al-Araby, the Arab League secretary general, which might happen by video this Friday or could be delayed until he can show up in person on Feb. 8, they said. Such a resolution would have to win the approval of Russia, a close ally of Syria that, along with China, vetoed a resolution condemning Syria in October.
The impasse has thwarted the council for months, and animosity was vividly on display in the chamber on Tuesday. Without naming Russia, ambassadors of the United States, Britain and France all strongly criticized it for continuing to deliver arms to the government in Damascus.
Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador, said London was concerned about the delivery of weapons to either side in Syria, but he singled out an interview by the Russian envoy ? without naming him or his country ? in which he said arms shipments had no effect on the situation.
?We fundamentally disagree,? Mr. Lyall Grant said. ?It is glaringly obvious that transferring weapons into a volatile and violent situation is irresponsible and will only fuel the bloodshed.?
The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, accused the Western nations ? also without naming them ? of seeking to use antigovernment demonstrators to bring to power here a government closer to their interests.
In Damascus, Mr. Moallem chided the Arab states for efforts to win United Nations approval.
Despite his condemnation of meddling in this country?s internal affairs, Syria on Tuesday approved a one-month extension of an Arab League monitoring mission, which has been criticized for failing to curb the violence. Echoing the frustration, six Persian Gulf countries announced that they were pulling their citizens from the observer mission, saying the killing was continuing.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=35c98ef116c238004c81baf955c7d295
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