Clinton warns Russia its Syria policy risks civil war

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday criticised Russia’s resistance to UN action on Syria, warning that its policy of propping up the Assad regime could contribute to a civil war.
The Russians “are telling me they don’t want to see a civil war. I have been telling them their policy is going to help contribute to a civil war,” she told a mainly student audience on a visit to Copenhagen. Clinton warned that unless unchecked, the deadly violence in Syria could lead to civil war or even develop into a proxy war because of Iran’s support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
She said she had spoken on Wednesday with the international envoy on Syria, Kofi Annan, who is trying to expand his mandate to be able to deal more effectively with Damascus. “We have to bring the Russians on board because the dangers we face are terrible,” said Clinton, who is in Denmark on the first leg of a Scandinavian tour. She said the absence of UN support for action in Syria, due mainly to Russia’s opposition, “makes it harder” to respond to the crisis, as the international community did last year in Libya.
“The continued slaughter of innocent people, both by the military and by militias supported by the government and increasingly by the opposition… could morph into a civil war in a country that would be riven by sectarian divides, which then could morph into a proxy war in the region. “Remember you have Iran deeply embedded in Syria — their military are coaching the Syrian military. The Quds Force, which is a branch of the military, is helping them set up these sectarian militias.
“We know it actually could get much worse than it is,” she said.
A massacre last week of more than 100 people in the city of Houla, allegedly by government-backed forces, and the discovery of new execution-style killing since then has raised the pressure for international action. But Russia has adamantly refused to go against its close ally Syria with President Vladimir Putin warning Thursday that Moscow will not change its position under pressure.
“Russia’s position is well-known. It is balanced and consistent and completely logical,” Interfax quoted Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
NATO action in Syria not on the table: US envoy

NATO military action in Syria is not on the table despite the massacre of civilians by the regime, the US envoy to the alliance said Thursday. NATO allies have neither discussed an intervention in Syria nor made any military planning to stop the relentless crackdown by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad against dissidents, said US ambassador Ivo Daalder. Daalder noted that the alliance launched its air war in Libya last year after three conditions were fulfilled: a “demonstrable need” to intervene, support from nations in the region, and a UN Security Council mandate. “With respect to a demonstrable need, clearly when government forces are attacking civilians with artillery and tanks, there is a need to bring that to an end. That was true in Libya and that is true in Syria,” he said. But there is neither regional support nor a UN mandate to act militarily in Syria. “So under those circumstances, the NATO countries understand that the issue of military intervention, which is also always complex, is not right now on the table when it comes to Syria,” Daalder said. All NATO members, notably Syria’s neighbour Turkey, are watching the situation “very carefully and that is where things stand right now,” the ambassador added. “How it will evolve in the future is anyone’s guess,” he said.