China and Russia said yesterday they were “decisively against” intervention or regime change in Syria as Arab and Western calls mounted for tougher international action in the 15-month conflict.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the crisis with allies in Turkey, as Washington endorsed an Arab proposal to invoke the UN Charter’s tough Chapter VII, while refraining from supporting its powers to initiate military intervention.
Mrs Clinton, who has voiced mounting frustration with the Chinese and Russian positions, called on the international community to “close off the regime’s economic life lines.”
“The regime must end the atrocities, comply with all its commitments under the Annan plan and allow the transition to a democratic Syria to begin,” she said.
As rebel fighters stepped up their attacks in and around Damascus, Mrs Clinton’s Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov warned that regime change in Syria would lead the Middle East to “catastrophe.”
In a joint statement issued after two days of talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leaders, Beijing and Moscow said they strongly opposed intervention and regime change in Syria.
The statement said, “Russia and China are decisively against attempts to regulate the Syrian crisis with outside military intervention, as well as imposing... a policy of regime change.”
Speaking in the Chinese capital, the Russian foreign minister urged the international community to resist calls from the exiled opposition to help oust President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The two nations have vetoed two Security Council resolutions criticising Mr Assad’s regime.
In the latest violence, rebels went on the offensive in and around Damascus, while 46 people were killed in shelling, blasts and clashes across the country, the Observatory said. In Latakia province, regime forces rained shells down on several villages and towns.
According to the Britain-based watchdog’s figures, at least 168 soldiers have been killed in the past week, including 76 at the weekend.
Rebels clashed with regime troops in Harasta and at checkpoints near Douma, Irbin amd Zamalka, all in the Damascus region, among several other parts of the capital, said the Observatory.
Meanwhile Mr Assad appointed a regime loyalist, agriculture minister Riad Hijab, as premier to replace Adel Safar, who formed his government in April last year, a month after the uprising erupted.
France dismissed the move as a “masquerade,” while Italy warned that Mr Assad’s policies risk creating “genocide” unless there is swift action to stop him.
Mrs Clinton arrived in Istanbul to meet representatives of 15 Arab and European states to discuss how to halt the violence and remove Mr Assad, ahead of a Security Council briefing by Mr Annan today.