Reuters/Doha
International peace envoy Kofi Annan warned yesterday that Syria was slipping into “all-out” war, and a Syrian opposition figure said Russia had become part of the problem and should urge President Bashar al-Assad to quit power. “The spectre of an all-out war, with an alarming sectarian dimension, grows by the day,” Annan told a meeting of members of the Arab League, co-sponsor with the United Nations of a peace plan aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria.Annan criticised Assad for failing to comply with a peace plan to end the conflict and said his forces were carrying out atrocities, arbitrary arrests and other abuses regardless of the world outcry against him.
At a meeting with members of the Arab League here, Annan gave a bleak assessment of the situation in Syria 15 months on from the start of the anti-Assad uprising. He conceded that efforts by the UN and the Arab League to make a ceasefire take hold had failed and said the prospect of an all-out war was growing by the day, risking drawing in the whole region. Annan, a former Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is acting as Syria envoy for the UN and the Arab League, said he told Assad in “very direct and frank terms” when they met in Damascus last Tuesday that he must act to implement all points of the peace plan. “He must make bold and visible steps immediately to radically change his military posture and honour his commitment to withdraw heavy weapons and cease all violence. “What is important is not the words he uses but the action he takes - now.” The uprising against Assad - who succeeded his late father Hafez in 2000 to perpetuate the family dynasty - broke out last March and has grown from peaceful protests to armed insurgency. The ferocity of the crackdown on the opposition by government forces has appalled the international community. But Annan’s peace plan appears to be the only option on the table, even if it looks increasingly forlorn, as foreign governments are reluctant to intervene militarily and Russia is defending Assad on the diplomatic front. The massacre last week of more than 100 men, women and children in eastern Houla region, believed by UN monitors to have been the work pro-Assad militias and soldiers, caused renewed outrage. Annan said the Houla massacre was a terrible crime. “Worst of all, it is one of many atrocities to have taken place. “Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are internally displaced. Meanwhile, arbitrary detentions continue, and alongside that, widespread allegations of human rights abuses of all kinds,” he said. Since the conflict started, Assad’s forces have killed 7,500 people, according to a UN toll. The government, which portrays the unrest as the work of foreign-backed terrorists, says more than 2,600 soldiers or security agents have been killed. Also speaking at the Doha meeting, Burhan Ghalioun of the opposition Syrian National Council took a shot at Russia and said it must urge its ally Assad to quit power. “With its support of the regime and for Assad remaining, Russia has become part of the problem rather than part of the solution,” he said. Russia has blocked two UN Security Council resolutions condemning Assad and is Syria’s main arms supplier. On Friday it backed the government’s assertion that the Houla killings were the work of anti-government forces intent on undermining peace efforts.