| Syria resolution vetoed at UN |
DAMASCUS/ UNITED NATIONS Syrian President Bashar Al Assad sworn in new Defence Minister Fahd Al Freij on Thursday as Syrian TV warned of further rebel attacks in Damascus, and Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that threatened Syrian authorities with sanctions if they did not stop using heavy weapons and pull troops from towns.
Syrian state television broadcast images of Assad in a meeting with the new defence minister, Fahd Al Freij in the first public sighting of Assad since the bomb attack in Damascus on Wednesday that killed three top government officials, including Freij’s predecessor, Daoud Rajha.
“Everyone is looking now at how well Assad can maintain the command structure. The killings yesterday were a huge blow, but not fatal,” said a western diplomat following Syria.
Assad was in the presidential palace in Damascus on Thursday, a close aide said, as speculation about his whereabouts spread after his silence over a deadly bombing.
“He is in the presidential palace in Damascus with his staff and is directing the destiny of the country,” said the unnamed source, who is in direct contact with him.
In Damascus, residents said the city appeared paralysed after the killing of Assad’s brother-in-law, defence minister and a top general in a bomb attack on a security meeting. Some districts suffered heavy shelling.
State funerals will be held in Damascus on Friday for three top officials slain in an unprecedented bombing attack, a security source said.
“State funerals will be held in Damascus tomorrow, and then each of the bodies will be transported to his native town to be buried there,” the source said.
Syrian TV flashed a warning on its screen, telling residents that gunmen disguised in Republican Guard uniforms were spreading through several of Damascus’s troubled districts, saying “they are planning to commit crimes and attack people.”
Activists also issued counter warnings, saying real Republican Guard forces were in Midan. “We tapped into their walkie-talkies ... we are afraid of a massacre,” said activist Samir Al Shami.
Residents said a heavy onslaught of security force shelling and firing from helicopters went through the night and continued on Thursday in Damascus. Some reported explosions in the troubled north-eastern and southern districts of the capital.
A western diplomat said Sweden, Denmark and Austria had pulled out diplomats temporarily from Damascus after Wednesday’s bombing. The three missions had already been operating with a limited staff with only one or two diplomats each on the ground. Most of them hoped to return next week, he said.
Russia’s vetoing of a Security Council resolution to impose international sanctions on Assad was the third such blocking vote by Moscow. The Kremlin, which has backed the Damascus administration, argues that sanctions unfairly target Assad while applying no pressure on the rebels.
Russia blamed western nations of seeking to use the UN Security Council resolution on Syria to justify military intervention in the country.
The resolution sought to “open the path to the pressure of sanctions and further to external military involvement in Syrian domestic affairs,” Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after vetoing the resolution.
“Refusing Annan the means of pressure that he asked for is to threaten his mission,” France’s UN Ambassador Gerard Araud told the UN Security Council after the veto.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague attacked the vetos of Russia and China of a United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria as “inexcusable”.
In Kabul, British Prime Minister David Cameron said it was time for Assad to go to prevent civil war in the country. “In terms of Syria, I would have a very clear message for President Assad, which is it is time for him to go,” Cameron said during his visit to Afghanistan.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Damascus blast and expressed grave concern over the use of heavy weapons.
“Time is of the essence,” he said. “The Syrian people have suffered for too long. The bloodshed must end now.”
Major General Robert Mood on Thursday left for Geneva after a 90-day UN peace monitoring mission to Syria ended
In another development, diplomats said the EU is preparing to freeze the assets of at least 26 Syrians close to Assad and readying plans to board vessels and planes suspected of sending arms to his government.
In Jeddah, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) urged Syria’s leaders to make “sacrifices” to avoid civil war as violence surged after a Damascus bombing killed three top officials.
Fighting also erupted near the Syrian-Israeli frontier. King Abdullah II of Jordan warned that Syria was on the brink of all-out civil war and that chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Al Qaeda.
Agencies
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