A Wall Street Journal Roundup
The U.S. is proposing a new Security Council resolution demanding an end to violence in Syria, first by government forces and then by opposition fighters.
Diplomats said the draft resolution would be discussed behind closed doors Tuesday by the five permanent council members—the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France—and Morocco, the Arab representative on the council.
The new draft tries to take a more balanced approach in an effort to get Russia and China on board, but it was unclear if the new language would be sufficient to satisfy them.
Russia and China have vetoed two council resolutions saying they were unbalanced and only demanded that the government stop attacks, not the opposition. Moscow, which has taken the lead, accused Western powers of fueling the conflict by backing the rebels.
Western supporters of a U.N. resolution don’t want to formally introduce the U.S. draft if it’s going to face a third veto.
Meanwhile, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East told senators Tuesday that the advanced air defense weapons Russia has provided to Syria’s regime would make it difficult to establish a no-fly zone there as part of an effort to help the rebellion.
Marine Gen. James Mattis, head of U.S. Central Command, declined to detail any military options the Pentagon has developed for action against the regime. But he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that it would take a significant military commitment to create even havens in Syria where aid could be delivered, as Sen. John McCain suggested Monday.
In a news conference Tuesday, President Barack Obama said that unilateral military action by the U. S. against the Assad regime would be a mistake. He said the international community has not been able to muster a campaign against Syria like the one in Libya that ousted Col. Moammar Gadhafi last year.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Syria to immediately open humanitarian corridors to aid civilians threatened by the government offensive against opposition strongholds, as Ankara sought to boost stuttering diplomatic efforts to halt President Assad’s escalating crackdown.
Speaking to lawmakers from his governing Justice and Development Party in Ankara, Mr. Erdogan urged the international community to pressure Damascus to permit delivery of relief supplies to civilians and warned Syria’s President that he would be held to account for his government’s brutal efforts to quell more a yearlong uprising which has raised the prospect of a civil war.
“Humanitarian aid corridors in Syria must be opened right away, and we must increase pressure on the Syrian administration to deliver humanitarian aid to the Syrian people, especially to Homs,” Mr. Erdogan said, adding that the Arab League’s January plan calling for President Assad to cede power should be implemented “without wasting any more time.”
Addressing Syria’s President directly, Erdogan said; “I would like to remind him one more time: his father couldn’t be brought to account in this world, but sooner or later, he will be brought to account for this cruelty and massacre.”
Turkey has for months sheltered several thousand Syrian refugees, including the loose-knit coalition of rebel fighters who call themselves the Syrian Free Army. The opposition Syrian National Council in December opened an office in Istanbul.
Turkey has quietly raised the idea of establishing a “buffer zone” inside Syria to protect civilians from Mr. Assad’s forces. But to do so, U.S. officials acknowledge, the international community would need to assemble some sort of outside military force to deter Syrian forces. They worry that without such firepower, Syrian forces could easily overwhelm any buffer zones or humanitarian corridors and potentially turn international monitors into hostages.
