The crisis in Syria was the main focus of the United Nations Security Council on Monday. The United States and Britain both were pursuing quick action for a resolution while Russia was warning against a “take-it-or-leave-it” method. All of the sides involved in the discussion were asking for an immediate end to violence.
“There is a growing understanding of the need not to talk to each other on the basis of take-it-or-leave-it, but bring the positions together and be guided not by the desire of revenge, of punishment, who is to blame and so on and so forth, but by the basic interests of the Syrian people,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, according to CNN. “And this requires an immediate end of violence as the number one priority.”
Lavrov went onto say, “Let’s try to be respectful to each other, respectful to each other’s position and let’s find common approaches, but approaches which would be formulated in very clear terms and which would exclude a repetition of the situation with the Libyan resolutions, both of which were grossly violated.”
Lavrov also said that some members of al Qaeda were responsible for increasing violence in Syria. He also claims that the Free Syrian Army has been responsible for the violence.
“If the task is to say that Assad is responsible for everything, therefore, he must just vacate the cities, maybe it’s something which catches the eye of the people that watch TV, but if the Security Council is not about creating such public opinion but is about stopping the bloodshed, then we must be a bit more pragmatic,” Lavrov said.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “The United States believes in the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member states, but we do not believe that sovereignty offers a grant of immunity when governments massacre their own people.”
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria asked the Syrian National Council “to immediately address the U.N. Security Council and demand that all measures to stop the massacres be taken, rather than merely issuing statements.”
Valerie Amos, a humanitarian chief from the United Nations, recently visited a refugee camp and spoke with Syrians who have fled their country. “It’s not an ideal situation,” she said. “But we have to keep working on this, we have to keep trying, because there are people who need help.” Amos said the refugees are those “who were very angry about what’s happening in Syria and being abandoned by the international community.”
