Russia takes aim at Western position on Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Western and Arab governments to review their policy on Syria Thursday, as battles raged between rebels and army forces in several districts of Damascus. “Why should Russia be the only one reassessing its position? Perhaps our negotiating partners should reassess their position,” Putin told Russia Today television. “To us, the most important thing is to end the violence, to force all the sides in the conflict ... to sit down at the negotiating table, determine the future and ensure the security of all the participants of the domestic political process,” he said. “Only then [should we] move on to these practical steps about the internal organization of the country itself.” Putin has previously rejected providing asylum to Syrian President Bashar Assad and insisted that Russia still viewed either Assad or his representatives as an integral part of the negotiating process. Moscow has stirred Western and Arab world anger by vetoing three U.N. Security Council resolutions that would have slapped sanctions on Assad during the nearly 18-month conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said it had full assurances that the chemical weapons stockpile amassed by the regime was safe and would not be used against Assad’s foes. “We are fully confident – and have the official assurance from Damascus – that this country’s government is taking all the necessary measures to guarantee the chemical arsenal’s safety,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Interfax. “We exclude the possibility of chemical arms being used for combat purposes.” The Russian comments came as Arab and Western nations reiterated their insistence that Assad step down. Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi Wednesday called on Assad to step down at a meeting of foreign ministers at the Arab League in Cairo, in comments Damascus slammed Thursday as “interference.” In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said Mursi’s comments “were a clear attack on the right of the Syrian people to choose their future by themselves, without foreign interference,” adding that Mursi’s comments aim to “fuel the violence in Syria.” Meanwhile, Britain and France said they agreed to accelerate transition efforts to a new government in Syria and U.S. officials said they were boosting their intelligence presence along the Syrian-Turkish border. Following talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London, French President Francois Hollande said the two countries were in agreement that “we must accelerate the political transition [and] help the opposition to form a government.” Meanwhile, officials in the United States told AP that the U.S. was beefing up its presence along the Syrian border with Turkey, sending more diplomats and intelligence agents to advise the Syrian rebel forces. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. intelligence officers were gathering information from refugees and defectors on the border, while State Department workers were helping to organize the rebels politically. A rebel general said Wednesday the opposition Free Syrian Army would soon adopt changes aimed at overcoming divisions and addressing the growing number of militias fighting on its behalf. Following talks due to end in around 10 days, the FSA would go by the name of the Syrian National Army, Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the military council grouping rebel chiefs, told AFP. On the ground Thursday, reports from opposition activists said at least 90 people were killed across Syria, a day after 176 people died, most of them civilians. Among those killed were two kidnapped brothers of a Syrian rebel commander, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The men had been seized at an army checkpoint Wednesday night, said the Britain-based monitoring group. They were found dead in the Qadam district of Damascus amid a sharp increase in reports of abductions across the country. A video posted on YouTube by activists showed the bodies of the two men, identified as Mohammad and Ahmad al-Zakh, covered in blood. The head of one of the victims had been partly blown off. The Observatory also reported fierce battles and army shelling in Qadam where anti-regime sentiment is strong, as well as shelling in nearby Assali. Clashes also broke out elsewhere in the city, including in the Sayyida Zeinab area of the southeastern outskirts, home to an important Shiite Muslim shrine, said the watchdog. Residents in the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, in the south of the capital, reported at least five people killed in two days of government shelling close to the rebel stronghold of Tadamon. Kafr Zeita in the central province of Hama, one of the main arenas of the 17-month revolt against Assad, also saw fierce shelling for the second consecutive day, activists reported. “It is horrific that the towns that have seen the most consistent dissent by unarmed protesters should be subjected to such violence,” an activist who identified himself as Abu Ghazi told AFP via Skype. In other developments, a military source said the army had retaken the strategic Barkum bridge south of Aleppo on the highway to Damascus, after rebels seized it three weeks ago. And after hours of heavy shelling, Syrian troops also recaptured a town bordering Jordan, in what activists said was an attempt to stem the flood of people fleeing across the border. Syrian rebels had been in control of Tel Chehab, a key transit route to Jordan, for months, despite repeated assaults, activists said. But in the latest clashes, hundreds of Syrian soldiers backed by 20 tanks led an assault on the town, wrestling control from the rebels, according to an activist, Abu Horan, and the Observatory. (daily star)