LONDON?U.S. officials steered away Thursday from any commitment to help arm Syrian opposition forces, insisting that the current focus should be on funding humanitarian aid, unifying the political opposition to President Bashir al-Assad and increasing the world?s diplomatic and economic stranglehold on his government.
On the eve of an international meeting in Tunisia, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed with top European and Arab allies that their most urgent priority is developing a ?unified position that sends a strong message to the Syrian regime? of international impatience, a senior State Department official said.
The conference on Friday will ?challenge Assad to respond .?.?. within days,? to demands that he allow humanitarian aid to enter the country, the official said.
But neither this official nor others meeting in London gave any indication of what world leaders were prepared to do if there was no response.
?Time is against the Assad regime,? British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC. ?I wish it were faster.?
Clinton?s meetings, with Hague and the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia are part of an effort to reach a common position before the Tunisia conference, which will bring together more than 70 governments and Syrian opposition leaders.
The international community has been struggling to develop a unified and effective plan of action since Russia and China vetoed United Nations Security Council resolution demanding that Assad step down and cease the violence that has left at least 6,000 Syrians dead since early last year.
?These meetings tend to focus the mind and jell? uncoordinated efforts, a second U.S. official said of the Tunis gathering.
In Geneva on Thursday, a U.N.-appointed commission recommended international investigation of top political and military officials in Syria for crimes against humanity.
?A reliable body of evidence exists that, consistent with other verified circumstances, provides reasonable grounds to believe that particular individuals, including commanding officers and officials at the highest levels of government, bear responsibility for crimes against humanity and other gross human rights violations,? the committee said in a report handed to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, along with a list of names in a sealed envelope.
Syrian military forces Thursday continued their weeks-long bombardment of the opposition stronghold of Homs, where hundreds have reportedly been killed, including two Western journalists who were slain on Wednesday and whose bodies remain in the city.
Humanitarian organizations have appealed in vain for access to Homs and to other areas of the country that are under siege and running out of food, water and medical supplies.
The escalating carnage has led some to propose sending arms to the self-styled Free Syrian Army, a loosely-organized group of military defectors. Countries in the region, including Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, have indicated a willingness to funnel weapons to the opposition, and there are indications that some military supplies are already reaching them.
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=ccb7f0bf7b95f132a155c5e6cd557e10
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