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Subscribe to RSSMore than 200 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown this weekend. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
Updated at 9:40 a.m. ET: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Sunday for "friends of democratic Syria" to unite and rally against President Bashar Assad's regime, previewing the possible formation of a formal group of likeminded nations to coordinate assistance to the Syrian opposition.
Speaking in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia a day after Russia and China blocked U.N. Security Council action on Syria, Clinton said the international community had a duty to halt ongoing bloodshed and promote a political transition that would see Assad step down. She said the "friends of Syria" should work together to promote those ends.
Clinton was bluntly critical of Saturday's veto by Russia and China at the United Nations blocking action against the continuing violence in Syria. "What happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty," she said.
Original post: Western and Arab countries responded with outrage on Sunday after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.
Activists are describing it as the single deadliest day in the 11-month Syrian uprising as hundreds are killed during a barrage of mortar fire in the city of Homs. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said she was "disgusted" by the vote, which came a day after activists say Syrian forces bombarded the city of Homs, killing more than 200 people in the worst night of bloodshed of the 11-month uprising.
"Any further bloodshed that flows will be on their hands," ambassador Susan Rice said after the Russian-Chinese veto.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that the approach by Moscow and Beijing "lets the Syrian people down, and will only encourage President Assad's brutal regime to increase the killing."
He later told Britain's Sky News he was considering whether to cut diplomatic ties with Syria, and said he would back any separate Arab League action against Damascus.
The Arab League said on Sunday it would continue to seek a resolution to the crisis in Syria but it was not clear whether its members agree on precisely what action to be taken.
Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said that "we have to expel the Syrian ambassadors from Arab countries and other countries."
"The very least that we can do is to cut our relations to the Syrian regime," Jebali said. He criticized the "excessive use of the veto" in the U.N. Security Council. "This is a right that was misused, and undoubtedly the international community has to reconsider this mechanism of decision taking."
All 13 other members of the Security Council voted to back the resolution, which would have "fully supported" an Arab League plan under which Assad should cede powers to a deputy, withdraw troops from towns and begin a transition to democracy.
Russia said the resolution was biased and would promote "regime change." Syria is Moscow's rare ally in the Middle East, home to a Russian naval base and a customer for its arms.
The Syrian National Council, which represents major opposition groups, said it holds Moscow and Beijing "responsible for the escalating acts of killing and genocide; it considers this an irresponsible step that is tantamount to a license to kill with impunity".
The Security Council's sole Arab member, Morocco, voiced "great regret and disappointment" at the veto. Ambassador Mohammed Loulichki and said the Arabs had no intention of abandoning their plan.
Syrian U.N. envoy Bashar Ja'afari criticized the resolution and its sponsors, which included Saudi Arabia and seven other Arab states, saying nations "that prevent women from attending a soccer match" had no right to preach democracy to Syria.
He also denied that Syrian forces killed hundreds of civilians in Homs, saying that "no sensible person" would launch such an attack the night before the Security Council was set to discuss his country.
In Syria on Sunday state television showed live footage of Assad praying with Sunni Muslim clerics and listening to the recitation of the Koran in a Damascus mosque to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
Much of the opposition to Assad is rooted in the Sunni majority, some of whose members resent the wide influence of members of Assad's Alawite sect.
Residents of Homs's battered Baba Amro district, speaking by telephone, denounced the Russian-Chinese veto, some chanting, "Death, rather than disgrace."
One resident who identified himself as Sufyan said: "Now we will show Assad. We're coming, Damascus. Starting today we will show Assad what an armed gang is." Assad has called his opponents "armed gangs" and "terrorists" steered from abroad.
Russia's U.N. envoy, Vitaly Churkin, accused the resolution's backers of "calling for regime change, pushing the opposition towards power and not stopping their provocations and feeding armed struggle."
"Some influential members of the international community, unfortunately including those sitting around this table, from the very beginning of the Syrian process have been undermining the opportunity for a political settlement," he said. Moscow is sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Damascus on Tuesday.
If activists' accounts are accurate, the bombardment of Homs on Friday night was one of the bloodiest episodes of the Arab Spring uprisings sweeping the region and the deadliest incident in the Syrian conflict.
Syrian activist groups gave varying tolls above 200 killed, saying tanks and artillery blasted the Khalidiya neighbourhood of Homs, a restive city that has become a heartland of resistance to Assad's rule.
Rami Abdullrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said as of late on Saturday he had a list of 128 names of people confirmed killed, accounting for about half the total.
Damascus denies firing on houses and says images of dead bodies on the Internet were staged. Western governments say they believe the activists.
"Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement before the U.N. Security Council vote.
"Any government that brutalizes and massacres its people does not deserve to govern," Obama said.
France called the Homs killings a "massacre" and a "crime against humanity." Tunisia ejected the Syrian ambassador and announced it would withdraw recognition of Assad's government. Crowds of Syrian activists stormed embassies in London, Cairo, Berlin and Kuwait.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who held what U.S. officials described as "a very vigorous discussion" with Russia's Lavrov ahead of the U.N. vote, said it had not been possible to work constructively with Moscow.
"I thought that there might be some ways to bridge, even at this last moment, a few of the concerns that the Russians had. I offered to work in a constructive manner to do so. That has not been possible," she told reporters at a Munich conference.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Paris would consult with Arab and European countries to create a "Friends of the Syrian People Group" that would marshal international support to implement the Arab League's plan to address the crisis.
Dr. Alan George, senior associate member of St. Antony's College, Oxford and an expert on Syria, told Britain's Sky News he would like to see Syria's ambassador expelled from Britain but said there was "no appetite whatsoever" in the West for military intervention.
"It is going to be an armed struggle, undoubtedly," he said. "Ultimately, that struggle is going to be determined inside Syria."
Reuters, The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.
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I didn't realize I had entered some fantasy land where UN resolutions meant something.
What? Did everyone expect al-Assad to see this resolution and say, "Oh, I didn't know they felt this way. I'll step down now."
UN resolutions: who do benefit in reality? If Russia: is it because the the guns they sell; if China: is it because of the junk the sell manufactured by the China enterpraneurs from the radical Comunist?
To prove she was serious about Syria, Hillary offered to send Bill as a U.N. peace keeper.
Innocent people are being murdered in the streets protesting for their right to freedom and democracy. We should care for our fellow human being and look at the two nations that stand against it and block it. So the UN actions get blocked by two of the most corrupt, inhumane governments on the face of the earth...what do we do, just throw our hands up and say 'we did what we could' and turn our backs, or do we turn to NATO and do what we did for Libya? Russia says we haven't allow for diplomacy to work, but sheesh, it's been 11 months now. Diplomacy is over, it's time to militarily support freedom fighters, by sending in arms or bombing military installations, like we did in Libya.
The communist in China and Russia fear the out come of all this push for DEMOCRACY.The Americans and the Western countries say one thing and turn a blinds eye,when the interest of bureaucratic establishments are infringed on .If ISRAEL and LIBYA shared a common border the U.S. would not have attacked during the uprising against Qaddafi.The atrocities being committed in Syria are a HUMAN FAILING,fueled by religious intolerance.The U.S. and it's allies need to assist the victims of this Thu non-government means,do not get the MILITARY involved.Our actions in Iraq have created an atmosphere of rage and instability through out the region.Of course FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY was the headlines for all of this upheaval.The bloodshed is almost entirely amongst the feuding sects of ISLAM,why should we get entrenched in another of these blood feuds?will our involvement bring about peace and understanding between the factions? Quick refresher look at the mess in IRAQ and Afghanistan,STAY OUT OF THIS !
I never heard nobody protesting for the killing of thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan or Iraq by the invaders; really...... Let every country take care of their own you wouldn't like that other country come to yours to impose their "democracy".
Good analysis Kenn, very much the way it is and the way it's gonna be for years to come.
I sucks when the shoe is on the other foot. These sorts of decisions made by China and Russia are basically a thumb in the eye of the U.S. for never supporting sanctions against the terrorist state of Israel. They are also sending a message of indirect support for Iran, a direct warning to the US and Israel that an attack on Iran will not be met with kindness. The US is not the power they think they are.
Wow, this was a huge miscalculation by Russia... which is odd, because although Putin may be a dictator and a tyrant, he's usually good at playing the game of international politics (he's rather easily made Obama look like a fool on several occasions).
Syria is Russia's primary ally in the region and they have a naval base there... the only Russian naval base in the area, compared to the massive US regional presence. Russia sees itself (rather ridiculously) as eventually taking up it's former Soviet role as military rival to the US, and a middle east base is crucial for this. Russia would also like to have some military leverage over OPEC in order to influence oil prices for its own purposes as a fuel-producing nation; Putin has openly complained that OPEC is too cooperative with the West and would like to see oil prices rise in general.
So he backs Assad in the hope that the revolution will be crushed at all cost. If that happens, Putin comes out way ahead of the game, with Assad essentially owing his life to him and thus potentially opening the door to whatever resources Russia may need out of Syria, and Putin himself established as a major regional influencer. On top of that, the US and its allies look weak and ineffectual for failing to remove Assad from power despite Obama openly calling for an end to his regime, despite the backing of the UN and all the major regional powers.
But that's not how it will play out. Assad's days are numbered, and only a fool would think otherwise at this point. It's inevitable. And all Putin will have done is ensure that whomever comes to power after Assad will make their first order of business the reevaluation of Syria's relationship with Russia. The new government may not be pro-American, but they will undoubtably be anti-Russian.
How exactly were the US and its allies to remove Assad from power?
I didn't say that the US or its allies were going to remove Assad. I said that that Assad would not be able to crush the revolution, and his days were numbered regardless at this point.
The US and its allies have backed the opposition groups, and therefore have a vested interest in seeing them succeed. If they fail, it will reflect poorly on the US, even if we didn't do anything materially one way or the other.
What DIDN'T you say??
"On top of that, the US and its allies look weak and ineffectual for failing to remove Assad from power despite Obama openly calling for an end to his regime, despite the backing of the UN and all the major regional powers."
You really need to gain some reading comprehension skills.
That statement was in the context of a hypothetical situation in which Assad managed to put down the revolution and remain in power. In such a situation the United States and its allies would look weak for not removing him from power, despite rhetoric calling for his removal.
I didn't say that the United States was going to remove Assad.
LOL, nice try TJ. You tried. True. You do list some hypotheticals but that sentence I am talking about is something called a STATEMENT. Typical BS your way out of everything. You've been busted. Happy Sunday $h!t head.
Notice the part of the statement that says 'IF THAT HAPPENS...'? See, everything after that is a hypothetical. This is called 'context'.
Like I said, learn some reading comprehension.
Not your "reading comprehension." I showed this to three others and they agree. Go learn to write.
That just proves the people you know are as ignorant of reading comprehension as you are.
LOL. stupid hillbilly speak.
The UN continues to be a waste of prime New York real estate.
The entire organization is useless and always has been. They are a bunch of spineless cowards who do nothing but get fat and take advantage of our hospitality.
Kick all of these useless idiots out of our country, fumigate the building, and turn it into condos.
Not my problem
Why I just don't give $h!t about this is that I'm tired of middle east conflict. As an American citizen I need a break from it. We're heading for a big storm with this so called Isreali attack that is coming soon on Iran.
Dang, why can't they ( Russ and Chin) do what we tell them to do?
No problem, USA. People are suffering and dying. We don't need to wait on anyone to police the World. Choose your side, get your guns, and go.
That's right. Money here grows on trees. Let's get our sons and daughters ready to go back. Enlist at once!!!
To the Russian and Chinese Governments: How will the people of Syria thank you after they have defeated the regime of the Totalitarian Dictatorship? Maybe they will cut off all future dealings, kick out your bases and your leadership will be looked on differently. How much was this blocked UN Security Council vote worth to your governments? The People of the world are rising up to say, enough.
The level of STUPIDITY in the Posters here and in the MSM is appalling! This is No DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT! It is an attempted coup by Sunni Elements who are being funded by Saudi Arabia. The UNITED NATIONS HAS NO BUSINESS INTERFERING WITH THIS! If you note - if you have a brain cell at all - the uprising is in a very localized area and IS NOT SPREADING AS A "DEMOCRACY" MOVEMENT WOULD. The Government in Syria is SECULAR and the people of Syria WANT TO KEEP IT THAT WAY! The Sunni Rebels have been fighting this insurgency for over 200 years. It is NOTHING NEW! The only difference is the Publicity and the Funding!
OBOZO'S "Arab Spring" was also NOT A DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT! It was a blatant battle between a Secular Government and Radical Islamists who wanted to implement SHARIA LAW. Now the people of Egypt, Tunisia, and Lybia are far worse off than under the previous SECULAR Dictators, because the Religious Radicals are in charge now. NO DEMOCRACY IS EVIDENT IN ANY OF THOSE 3 COUNTRIES!
sziker Yes you I believe have correctly analyzed this situation.
szik,
You're right. The problem with this site is that you have a lot of hillbilly town rednecks on here who know nothing about the world except their little hick towns. You can give them a blank map and ask them to locate not Syria but their own state and they couldn't do it. They hate Obama and want to tie this mess all to him.
Excuse Me Rob, ALL HILLBILLY'S are not as DUMB as People like You that Stereotype. I have noticed that all you say, has NOT been Taken as Positively as you would Wish. Before You Lose all Respect from other Posters, You should refrain from your RACISTS Remarks. You do NOT Speak for ME or the so called Hillbilly's That deal with Your Kind of Remarks Every Day. This is NOT about Obama or Politics,It's about GENOCIDE. Get Out of Your Bubble.
Get used to it. :)
MYSTIC1, why do you capitalize every other word? What is the point? While I realize it was pretty fashionable in the Victorian era to capitalize certain Subjects, Topics, or Emotions, here it just makes you look like an ass who failed 4th grade grammar.
It's to show Emphasis. As far as ME being an ASS, Look in YOUR Mirror before speaking of someone else. BTW, I have a BA in Electronic Engineering, so Dumb I'm NOT.(emphasis)
That VETO action should be abolished in the United nations as it marely serves as a puppet theater. Russia and China have nothing to say about human rights to the rest fo the world as both countries are repeatedly being put on a stage by Anesty International.
This is sickening. Where is TRIBUNAL IN THE HAGUE NOW??????That institution is just another laughable puppet show. sadly enough Politics and interests, and greed are above human dignity or life for many politicians.
Careful what you wish for. With no veto power, Israel would not fare so well.
Yes, Bob, and if the veto were prohibited maybe (just maybe) Israel would have to stop the blatantly illeagal occupation and Palentinian genocide it has long been undertaking.
These Chinese and Russian idiots are only disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing. COME ON U.N. Do something about it. China and Russia? WTF? You idiots would make more money if Syria was a free nation. Why are you stopping it. You retards need to realize this is the 21st century, and now we are all connected. Every one knows what's going on. You can't hide anymore. Trust me. When the Western world is finished policing up the Middle East and setting the people free, they will set their sites on you and pick your isolated countries apart state by state using your own repressed citizens. Emperor Chin was a nut case, but he was correct in uniting all of China because he knew there was better prosperity for all - when all are working towards the same cause and not fighting each other. Now expand that globally...Get it? China and Russia, It's time you backwards thinking idiots come to realize, that power is in the populations, and now the populations are speaking - most notably through the use of Facebook, which of course you morons have censored. What's the matter little babies? You afraid you will lose your little power and control...Afraid of progression and change? Afraid we are going to take your pacifiers away? China and Russian governments are a bunch of punk-ass babies hiding behind what they think is control through terrorism. But dumb asses, people spend more money when they are in a free society than when being controlled. That's why the Western World has been so prosperous during the last 1500 years both economically and technology wise. China would never be what is today without Western dollars. They know it. But what if the world boycotted all China and Russian goods? Stop ALL exports and imports - then what China? Back to the stone age. - But don't worry, there is a future for a stone age China - You can still build your wall using slave labor. - Maybe this time you can build it higher...God forbid we should "see" you. - Idiots!
Yeah!! As Jimmy runs off to Walmart to do his shopping. Don't touch his cheap prices he says.
you need to stay with facebook, with your rambling this is way above your head...your real brave behind a computer screen calling everyone names...
Jimmy, unfortunately the US and Europe are pretty much the new comers in the civilization game that has been playing out for the past 4 thousand + years. 1500 years ago Europe was basically run by the Romans and once they said good bye the dark ages ensued.
Fact:The world does not turn because of the US's superiority complex and the poker chips are stacked in piles on the other side of the table. The chips we do have are borrowed from the guys sitting across the table, what the hay we might as well go all in and see who's holding the best cards, right? Wrong, you STFU and pray your opponent makes his mistakes that reduces his stack, in this case we have a lot of STFUing to do and thats the smart play. The US has borrowed too much allready to play in this game, yet has no problem spending another trillion every year on toys that will not get them ahead because its playing a childrens game called battleship and the opponents are playing poker, Risk, Monopoly and Chess at the same time.
Too often, horrible situations are used as an excuse for governments, or pseudo governments to go beyond their authority. If the UN had the authority to tell a president to step down, could they make that demand to the United States, maybe because of our drone activity?
The Tunisians make more sense. If the international community would isolate Syria by removing diplomatic, economic and military aid, Assad's regime would fall.
The danger in this region is that when a regime falls, even one as evil as Assad's, what will replace it? The Russians, especially, have a threat from the south of a rise of radical Islam. International action that would result in the success of this group in any country cannot be acceptable to Russia.
The UN has other options that are more within its charter than to dictate who should or should not be in power in an individual country.
Thanks to China and Russia. Someone has to stop the use of UN to impose their opinions on sovereign nations, and China and Russia are willing to step up. Although the US is well within its right to detest the deaths of Syrian protesters, sovereign nations and their citizens are responsible for the governing they receive. Unfortunately, the reshaping of governments and the end to tyranny sometimes requires civil war. The US needs to learn to stay out of other nations' business, before the Chinese and Soviets decide they have had enough of the interference.
Problem is moron, is that the people don't have a choice because they can't vote and are kept from education. So it's not the peoples responsibility for the governing they receive. Think of it like this - with your thoughts on things - why would the U.S. need child protective services. Is it the children's fault they are getting beaten and can't defend themselves?. Or should we not step in and just let it happen - which is what you are proposing in your stupid comment. What about your own kids? Dude - really - your about as stupid as stupid gets with your comments.
I think you missed the point. But by your prowess with insults, I dont doubt it. Its the very "choice" you refer to that the citizens of a nation have to obtain. Sometimes thats done with bloodshed. As Franklin said: "Citizens get the government they deserve." We are watching a small nation attempt change. Our obligation is to leave them to their reshaping, and worry about domestic problems instead.
@disinterested 3rd party: I could not have said it better myself. Unfortunately, the likes of Jimmy Grant have taken the propaganda hook, line, and sinker. A constitutional government would protect individual rights, including those of children.
Government cannot fix our problems: government is the problem!
just like your child protective comment, they too, have been given a little authority and it goes to the extreme...people are people, governments and self serving politicians are NOT the people.
Lets see now, we overthrew Iraq and killed its leader, oh yeah "war on terror", by the way they weren't even involved. We watched tunsania as they revolted their dictator, egypt get rid of their dictator. Then the un goes in and we kill the president of syria. Now an uncomfirmed 200 people die in a muslim revolution and the un is still trying to tell everyone what to do, screw the un and all those members who are trying tell everyone else how to live. Oh by the way how many people is the un responsible for killing, innocently.
obammy wants to be reelected so he will try and send us into a war with Iran. he and hillary tell the un how and what to do and of course they hold other members buy their financial purse or extortion. obammy is like a bullied kid looking to hurt everyone of US, because some one peed in his corn flakes. He needs to go and take over his own country. Of course even Africa doesn't want him around. hes a whimp hiding and controling the greatest country there has ever been. We use to stand tall in the eyes of the world, now we are a pathetic joke.
We need to stop provoking war on other countries so that we can shift the focus of what is really happening here in our own country. washington gang is the biggest threat to the world and we just sit back and fight amoung ourselves while watching it. This is not entertainment when others are killed, murdered, mamed and wounded so some government can exploit their minerals, or anything else they they deem strategic. Its happening to other countries right now, but will be on our doorsteps soon and not just in body bags.
God knows the corruption of the world and the governments involved in the killing's, slavery, and those who committ genicide and vengance is His.
un again cant get it right! really!
I'm pretty sure they got Weapons of Mass Destruction. Doesn't that give us the right to do whatever the hell we want to do? It did in the past.
I'll bet you don't even know what a "weapon of mass destruction" is. Just like you probably don't know what "impeach " really means.
Russia and especially China know they do the same to their own people.
THIS IS NOT OUR PROBLEM. we need to mind our own damn bussiness and quit nit picking wars that we can't even afford to begin with. the federal reserve has bankrupted us and these globalist traitors in washington need to be tried for treason.
Who needs the UN when we have NATO:-)
cool, another war.
Good, I'm glad. If Syrians don't like their leadership then let Syrians do what they have to do to change it. This is none of our concern. Here in America people die because they can't afford medication while the company that produces it pays its CEO millions in salary and bonuses. Children go to bed hungry. Millions are out of work because the fat cat Wall Streeters outsourced their jobs. Infrastructure is crumbling around us. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Iraq is over and Afghanistan (while a justified war) is winding down. To hell with the rest of the world's problems; let's get to work on our own.
In Arab countries the protestors are called freedom fighters, in the good old USA, freedom fighters are called terrorists. Why don't we just stay the f^%k out of their business and concentrate on our country?
VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBANTS AND TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK FROM THE ROTHSCHILDS AND THE QUEEN
They are the terrorists
don't forget the rockefellers too
At a news conference later today at the Rose Garden, in conjunction with making his Super Bowl prediction, president Obama is expected to blame George Bush and Sarah Palin.
Rightfully so. Bush hoped Iraq would be a shining beacon of democracy for all oppressesd ME countries. What better way to keep oil profits high turdwad?
Hilary Clinton is hideous!! Hide your ugly face you dummy!! The only reson I hope the republicans win the presidential election is so that Hilary Clinton is (at least for four years) out of the government....fugly b!tch!!!!
Should we bomb and invade dumba$$ ? Hillary Clinton will be your President from 2016 to 2024, GET USED TO IT!!!