Clinton: "Friends of Syria" must unite to stop Russia, China "blockading" progress

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton listens during a meeting of the "Friends of the Syrian People" at the MFA Conference Center July 6, 2012 in Paris, France. / Getty

Updated at 11:35 a.m. ET

(CBS/AP) PARIS - The United States and its international allies called Friday for new, global sanctions against President Bashar Assad's regime, stepping up the pressure after the defection of a top general dealt a major blow to the Syrian leader.

The question, explains CBS News State Department correspondent Margaret Brennan, is whether Russia and China will finally and completely sever the financial lifeline which is keeping Assad in power. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has said they've essentially given Assad a free pass by failing to implement sanctions and continuing to import Syrian oil.

Washington urged countries around the world to demand that the two nations force Assad to step down.

Meanwhile, Syrian Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, a member of the elite Republican Guards and a son of a former defense minister, abandoned Assad's regime, according to Western officials. It was the highest profile departure in 16 months of bloodshed that activists say has killed more than 14,000 people.

Gen. from Assad's inner circle defects
Group reports "archipelago" of Syria torture
Syria crisis: The key players

The uprising in Syria began in March 2011 with peaceful protests calling for Assad's ouster but has become increasingly militarized as the opposition took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown. Military defections also have been on the rise.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Tlass had defected and was en route to France, where he has a sister and where world diplomats met Friday to bolster the Syrian opposition. Later, Fabius backtracked, saying he was not sure of Tlass' final destination.

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed that Tlass had defected and was heading to Turkey, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby called his defection "a crack in the inner circle" for Assad.

Clinton hailed the defection of top military officials in Assad's inner circle, telling reporters that "regime insiders and the military establishment are starting to vote with their feet."

She said this shows that "those with the closest knowledge of Assad's actions and crimes are moving away. We think that's a very promising development. It also raises questions for those remaining in Damascus, who are still supporting this regime."

A member of Syria's opposition National Council, Hassem Hashimi, described Tlass as a powerful figure in the Assad regime. "The defection of Tlass will encourage a lot of similar people to defect as well," he told The Associated Press in Paris.

Clinton joined senior officials from about 100 other countries in Paris to win wider support for a Syrian transition plan unveiled last week by U.N. mediator Kofi Annan. Joined by America's allies, she called for "real and immediate consequences for non-compliance, including sanctions," against the Assad regime.

But with neither Moscow nor Beijing in attendance, much remained dependent on persuading the two reluctant U.N. veto-wielding powers to force Assad into abiding by a cease-fire and the transition strategy. Clinton urged governments around the world to direct their pressure toward Russia and China as well.

"What can every nation and group represented here do?" Clinton asked. "I ask you to reach out to Russia and China, and to not only urge but demand that they get off the sidelines and begin to support the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."

"I don't think Russia and China believe they are paying any price at all — nothing at all — for standing up on behalf of the Assad regime," she added. "The only way that will change is if every nation represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and China will pay a price. Because they are holding up progress, blockading it. That is no longer tolerable."

Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, said, "We don't rule out any option for the future because it is deteriorating. It is a very grave situation. It is a murdering regime, so we want to see a peaceful transition. But we are not ruling anything out."

Diplomats urged the fractured Syrian opposition to unite.

Several rounds of international sanctions so far have done little to stop the bloodshed. This time the United States is hoping for sanctions that have more of an impact.

But Syrian rebels say sanctions aren't working and want quick military action. New violence in Syria led many activists to dismiss the importance of the Paris meeting. Anti-regime activists say Syrian forces have killed at least 25 people, arrested scores more and torched dozens of homes while seizing the northern city of Khan Sheikhoun from rebels.

At the Paris conference, opposition member Hashimi called for a no-fly zone to prevent military forces from "flying over defected soldiers and civilians and bombarding them."

"We're sick of meetings and deadlines. We want action on the ground," said activist Osama Kayal, speaking via Skype from an area near Khan Sheikhoun.

In Paris, Burhan Ghalioun, former leader of the Syrian National Council, explained his frustration after the conference.

"I am not satisfied at all because the Syrians are not waiting for press communiques. What preoccupies the Syrians today is the way we can stop the massacre. Every day there are 100, 130, 150 victims and the people only think about that," he said. "They want action, they want measures and practical mechanism to stop the killings."

• no previous page
• next

1/2

[Wim_Roffel]

Clinton is dishonest. It is she who has been fueling an uprising while obstructing any negotiations - fully aware that a similar policy in Libya had killed 30,000 people. It is she who wants regime change in Syria at any cost. It is she who keeps lying that the rebels are about to win - not because she believes it but hat way she can keep other countries and Syrian opposition leaders engaged in her deadly game.

[dfgdf67]

US plays role in Syria conflict by backing gangs: Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Washington plays a role in the turmoil in Syria by supporting the armed gangs to destabilize the country.


Assad told the German ARD television channel on Sunday that the United States is "part of the conflict," and that "they offer the umbrella and political support to those gangs to... destabilize Syria."

The latest remarks by the Syrian president come at a time when the anti-Syria Western regimes have been calling for Assad to step down.

Russia and China remain opposed to the Western drive to oust the Syrian president.


US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on June 30 that Assad "will still have to go."

Diplomats meeting in Geneva on the same day reached an agreement on a Syrian-led transitional governing body that could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, and shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent, said UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Kofi Annan.

The US secretary of state added that the Syrian president "will never pass the mutual consent test."

On July 3, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that some Western participants in the Geneva meeting "have started in their public statements to distort the agreements that were reached."


The New York Times published a report on June 21, quoting some US and Arab intelligence officials as saying that a group of "CIA officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey" and that the agents are helping the anti-Syria governments decide which gangs inside the Arab country will "receive arms to fight the Syrian government."

President Assad said on June 3 that Syria is "facing a war from abroad," and that attempts are being made to "weaken Syria, [and] breach its sovereignty."

SYRIA IS SOON TO HOST ITS REAL FRIENDS OF SYRIA.

[Ron_Kirkish_1]

Here is an example of the leadership qualities of President Obama, "Obama administration says it won't intervene militarily or provide weapons to the Syrian rebels for what it considers to be an already too-militarized conflict".

What if this was the same answer our country recieved from the Country of France when we were seeking "Freedom" from England in the 1700's?

Also, for this very same reason our fore-fathers (George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Tomas Jefferson, and so many more) insisted that citizens must have the "Right to Bear Arms" should they need to fight off any attempt by a hopeful domestic dictator or foreign country to confisgate our freedoms liberty.

It appears that President Obama is not in agreement with our fore fathers and the history of our country.

[lucifersshadow]

From the New York Times: Russia and China Sign 'Friendship' Pact . . . Russia and China signed a treaty of ''friendship and cooperation'' on July 17 2001, binding the two giants closer in the next 20 years and also committing them to oppose jointly much of the framework for international security that the United States is seeking to erect after the cold war.
Composed of 25 articles, the treaty joins Russia and China formally in opposing the United States' missile plans and places Russia more firmly behind China's claim of sovereignty over the island of Taiwan. It also strengthens military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow while rejecting the intervention that NATO undertook in 1999 in the Balkans to stop the killing of civilians.
The accord, sought by China, was concluded in a Kremlin ceremony with effusive gestures of camaraderie. The treaty bears the markings of a strategic pact that sets forth the deep concerns shared by Moscow and Beijing about a new world order dominated by the United States and its European allies.

[lucifersshadow]

In mid-April 2011, WikiLeaks revealed that the United States had secretly funnelled as much as $6 million to a London-based opposition group Movement for Justice and Development since 2006 to operate the Barada TV satellite channel and finance other activities inside Syria.[254] A report in the Washington Post in May 2012 described how the provision of military aid to opposition forces from Gulf states was being partly coordinated by the US.[255] A month later, the New York Times reported that the American involvement was being overseen by CIA officers in Turkey, and that the weapons provided included "automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and some antitank weapons". Part of the CIA's role was "helping to vet rebel groups" to ensure fighters allied with Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups were not benefiting from the flood of weaponry being provided and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.[223]

[pogrebyshche]

Hilary Clinton is Obama's b-ch in foreign affairs, and Obama, like Bush and Clinton before him, must prefer Islamic militants over secular rulers in Egypt, Libya, Syria and elsewhere. Who paid the Taliban and al-Quaeda in Afghanistan and supplied them with weapons two decades ago, so they could overthrow the secular government? Answer: CIA.

[Jesus_to_ground_control]

Assad = Hitler

In time, the voices of the martyred and rightful owners of Syria will prevail.

[-TeaPartyNation--]

Remember when clueless leftist nitwit (pardon the redundancy) hillary repeatedly praised mass-murderer thug assad for being a "REFORMER" !!!!

[hypnotoad72]

Go away, troll.

The moment you stop calling everybody you disagree with "leftist", "nitwit", or anything else is when the rest of us will stop treating you with the same level of maturity. "Do unto others", but I'm sure you know or have read that little parable somewhere... but that's all you're worth in terms of a response, right now.

[Scott_Evolution_is_a_hoax]

China and Russia have 15,000 lost lives blood on their Hands.
--
This could have ended quickly, instead, its worse than it has ever been.

[warmongrals]

THANK YOU RUSSIA AND CHINA FOR STANDING UP TO THE WARMONGRELS usa the blood is on usa ,saudi-arabia.qatar and all the other evil pigs that are funding these evil terrorist that are coming in from borders and causing evil killing of innocent people .The truth has been proven they have caught hundreds of these low lives that are paid by the united nations to unsettle the syrian government im sure usa would do same as bashar assad if protesters did same in america do they forget that they also funded afghan to fight russia and they funded saddam hussain to fight iran or is that all to be forgotten now .THANK YOU RUSSIA AND CHINA

[erasmus111]

by IPonUall July 6, 2012 11:24 AM EDT
The Russians and Chinese were our allies.


The Russians and Chinese have NEVER been your allies. If you think that, you are crazy.

China has been trying to poison you for years. And they have you right where they want you, owing TRILLIONS of dollars to them. They are looking at replacing you as being the most powerful country in the world. They don't have to far to go now. : )

[erasmus111]

Oh yeah, and Russia (China's buddy), is just waiting for the opportunity to kick your ass. Watch your back.

[gregorio57]

China and Russia were both our allies during World War II.