Saturday, June 9, 2012

Russia says it will not back foreign force in Syria despite worsening situation

Russians are smart…throwing out Assad means bringing in Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda.

Hasn’t anyone learned anything from Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt?

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Russia says it will not back foreign force in Syria despite worsening situation

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 2:12 PM EDT, Sat June 9, 2012

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A Syrian man carries a wounded girl after an explosion targeted a military bus on June 8, 2012.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • NEW: Russia's foreign minister says there is no alternative to the peace plan
  • Renewed clashes hit cities across Syria Saturday, killing at least 30
  • The opposition says doctors are being prevented from treating the injured
  • U.N. monitors find signs of an attack in a village where a massacre was alleged

(CNN) -- After days of international shuttling on what to do with the troubling situation in Syria, Russia's foreign minister said Saturday that his country will never agree to foreign intervention.

Despite warnings of Syria spiraling into an all-out civil war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a televised briefing in Moscow that there was no alternative other than implementing Special Envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, despite it failures.

"The situation looks more and more grim," Lavrov said. "For the first time since the beginning of this crisis we see the question of foreign intervention. And our position remains unchanged. We will never agree to sanction the use of force in the U.N. Security Council.

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He called foreign intervention a "dangerous game" and said it would have serious consequences in the entire region. He also blamed the recent violemce, which has included horrific massacres reported in Houla and Qubeir, in part to opposition groups being supported by other nations.

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Russia, along with China and four Central Asian nations have signed a joint declaration rejecting armed intervention in Syria and reiterating support for the peace plan.

Russia and China -- both Security Council members -- have also blocked proposed United Nations efforts to punish President Bashar al-Assad's regime with sanctions.

Lavrov suggested an international conference on Syria to work out a way to make Annan's peace plan stick. That conference, he said, should include Iran and not focus on regime change in Syria.

"If the Syrians agree [on Assad's departure] between each other, we will only be happy to support such a solution," Lavrov said. "But we believe it is unacceptable to impose the conditions for such a dialogue from outside."

Lavrov's comments came on a day when intense fighting flared across Syria and after many hours of international discussions this week on how to get Annan's failing peace plan back on track.

At least 30 people were killed Saturday, said the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) of Syria, an opposition group. Most were in Daraa, a southern city near the Jordanian border that the opposition group said was raided and shelled starting Friday night.

"Several doctors have been detained to prevent them from aiding the wounded amid a state of panic among residents due to the abuses regime forces are committing against the people there," the group said.

A doctor in the besieged city of Al Qusayr, near the Lebanese border, said he has to keep moving his makeshift hospital to prevent attack. Journalist Robert King documented the chaos in the hospital on video as medical staff rushed to save lives.

King said he has seen snipers targeting children.

Clashes renewed in Homs, where regime forces stormed Ghouta neighborhood amid intense gunfire, according to the coordination committees. Forces shelled a mosque and a church in the city, the group said.

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Homs came under heavy bombardment Saturday. Black and white smoke rose in tall columns as mortars and automatic gunfire shook the city.

At least nine people died in Homs, including the mayor of Khalidiya neighborhood, according to the group.

In Idlib, the regime's forces shelled neighborhoods with rockets and heavy weapons, the group said.

CNN cannot independently confirm reports of casualties or violence as the Syrian government has restricted access by international journalists.

In another sign of escalating attacks, rebels battled government forces in the heart of Damascus on Friday, sparking fierce explosions in a rare and bold move for the fighters, video purportedly from the scene showed.

A total of two more people died in Hassakeh and Daraya, the latter a Damascus suburb.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government said an "armed terrorist group" was behind an attack on a power station in a Damascus neighborhood Friday. Firefighters extinguished the fire and crews are working to restore electricity to affected areas.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the bodies of 57 soldiers -- many of them officers -- and policemen were transported from military hospitals in several cities to funerals in hometowns.

International leaders accuse al-Assad of failing to comply with a peace plan brokered by Annan, a special envoy on Syria for the United Nations and the Arab League.

Annan, who has been meeting with U.N. officials, is trying to salvage the peace plan to end the 15-month anti-government uprising.

As part of the plan, U.N. observers have been in Syria to monitor whether both sides are abiding by the agreement.

On Friday, the observers made it to the site of what the opposition called a massacre Wednesday in the village of Qubeir, near Hama, after they were denied access a day earlier by government forces and civilians in the area, said Sausan Ghosheh, spokeswoman for the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria.

The U.N. team found signs of an attack in the village, including some homes damaged by rockets, grenades and a range of other weapons, Ghosheh said. There also were tracks left by armored fighting vehicles that were visible in the vicinity, she said.

The observers found the village empty, and "the observers were not able to talk to anyone who witnessed Wednesday's horrific tragedy," Ghosheh said.

She said that the circumstances surrounding this crime "are still unclear. The number and names of those killed are still not confirmed."

The LCC alleges that at least 78 people were killed in Qubeir, while the Syrian government blamed terrorists for the attack that it says killed only nine people.

The state news agency discounted the opposition account of what happened in Qubeir, citing in its report a witness from the village who claimed to have seen the assault -- by "armed terrorists groups."

The government's claim sharply contrasts with the opposition, who accused government forces of shelling the village for an hour before militias on foot turned AK-47 rifles on people, some at close range, or slashed them with knives. Some residents suspected the Shabiha, armed gangs that work as freelancers for the government, the opposition said.

A video purporting to show the carnage, was posted on YouTube. It did not show who carried out the actual killings. CNN could not independently verify its authenticity.

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