U.S., allies set to "challenge" Assad to end siege

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with British Home Secretary Theresa May at the London Conference on Somalia, Feb. 23, 2012.

/ AP

The Obama administration, under renewed pressure to help end the violence in Syria, is working with allies on a united, international "challenge" to the Assad regime, demanding that Syria stop the siege on the central city of Homs within days and allow immediate medical and humanitarian aid to flow directly to aid agencies trying to help the city's battered civilians.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other leading Arab and European diplomats - a group calling itself the "Friends of Syria" - met Thursday in London, on the sidelines of a conference on security in Somalia, to work on plans to get humanitarian aid into Syria.

"The efforts that we are undertaking with the international community ... are intended to demonstrate the Assad regime's deepening isolation," Clinton told reporters later Thursday. "Our immediate focus is on increasing the pressure. We have got to find ways of getting food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance. Into affected areas. This takes time and it takes a lot of diplomacy."

According to a senior U.S. official, the group will "challenge the Assad regime to respond within days."

Syria regime tanks reportedly enter Homs
American, French journalists killed in Syria
Complete coverage: The Arab Spring

With more than 70 countries sending representatives to Tunisia on Friday for a hastily-assembled Friends of Syria meeting, Secretary Clinton is working on the details of what the Tunis conference should accomplish.

According to diplomats from the U.S. and other countries with knowledge of the talks, the Tunis wish-list is shaping up roughly like this:

1. A demand that Assad order a ceasefire in the attack on Homs and other cities and allow access for humanitarian aid to flow. The aid would be channeled to relief agencies already in Syria, supervised by the United Nations.

2. Increased recognition of the Syrian National Council - a Turkey-based organization claiming to speak for 60 Syrian dissident groups - as the leading political alternative to the Assad regime. The nod to the SNC would fall short of formal recognition, but the U.S. is behind an Arab League effort to give the SNC more international credibility. (It's worth noting the Arab League's transition plan for Syria already calls for Assad to step aside peacefully.)

3. Renewed efforts to have Arab states enforce ongoing, but often ignored economic sanctions against the Assad regime.

Left conspicuously off the wish list is the question of what happens if Assad refuses to bend to the group's demands. In the wake of the Russian and Chinese vetoes of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the violence in Syria and calling for Assad to leave, the U.S. is hoping the Tunis conference will serves as a new, united, international voice of outrage.

But that's only a hope.

What about arming the rebels? The U.S. is encouraging back-channel, unofficial discussions of how to send arms to rebel forces, but is reluctant to openly endorse an arms plan because it's unclear where those arms would end up if Syria descends further into civil war.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Thursday that while the administration opposes a military solution, "we'll have to evaluate this as time goes on."

This story was filed by CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews, traveling with the Secretary of State in London

[FactNotRhetoric]

Saudi Puppet Hillary's only concern it to get aid and guns to the SAUDI PAID AL-QAEDA TERRORISTS AND THE SAUDI PAID MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TERRORISTS IN HOMS.

If Hillary had any compassion for the Citizens of Syria she would make the Saudi Dictator withdraw his Paid Terrorists. Instead Hillary wants to sacrifice American Lives and innocent Civilian Lives to overthrow Syria for the Saudi Dictator.

The Saudi Dictator is the worst Human Rights Violator in the World but he's the one writing the Human Rights Violations reports for the UN. Of course he will say the human rights violations have nothing to do with his PAID TERRORISTS THAT ARE PAID TO KILL INNOCENT SYRIANS and blame it on the Syrian Government.

This is a war that was started by the Saudi Dictator to overthrow the admittedly bad Syrian Dictator and replace him with a MUCH WORSE, GENOCIDAL, HITLER-LIKE SAUDI DICTATOR.

Now the Saudi Dictator doesn't want to use his own troops. He wants to sacrifice American Soldier's lives, borrow and spend $Trillions of American Dollars to kill almost a million innocent Middle Eastern Civilians to take over Syria and Iran for the Saudi Dictator.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH - SAUDI PUPPET HILLARY - STOP KILLING AMERICANS AND INNOCENT CIVILIANS AND CHILDREN TO GIVE MORE COUNTRIES TO THE HITLER-LIKE SAUDI DICTATOR.

Saudi Puppet Hillary's blood money is the offering her the position as head of the World Bank. In my mind, no position in any World Bank is worth one single life of any American Soldier or any Innocent Child or Civilian.

[TJphoto]

A Cruise Missile launched from a sub directly at his palace. Send a message. Then all the world leaders call and say it was from them. Just a thought.

[bonacar]

Thank goodness. Please hurry up with this. Homs can't wait much longer.

[KnowerseekerReturns]

Great job making the U.S.A. look weak, Hillary! Please just shut up if you're not going to *do* anything; you're embarrassing us. I "challenge" you to shut your yap on the subject.

[Resin-Smoker]

Nothing going on here people... move along.

[notparicular]

We already know the character of China and Russia. But US has a dfiierent role. If US does not speak and act against gross wrong act who would! US has to supply arms to the freedom fighters of Syria, and soon.

[robert1129]

Unless a definite deadline is given and the consequences for not complying, this meeting is worse than useless. And the consequences have to be military intervention by the international commonity and not led by the USA.

[slatep]

You would think by now that everyone would recognize the fact that ASSad doesn't give a fat rat's a** what the rest of the world thinks about him.

GUESS NOT.!!

Actions speak louder than words.

Arming the Syrian people and drones could put an end to Assad a lot faster than talk.

BTW; if you respond to this coment; be careful what you say.

Each time I enter a comment like the one above, I get the impression that my comments are being monitored, because after a few sentences, my computer makes clicking noises and I can't continue typing.

[KnowerseekerReturns]

I doubt it seriously. More likely due to running too many applications at once or malware.

[NeoCon_ChickenHawk]

At this point, we should keep out of it. The Russians and the Chinese have made it clear that they fully support the slaughter of innocent people. The blood of the Syrian people is on the hands of Russia and the Chinese. Eventually, they will have to explain their insane stance!