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Syrian News Agency Sana/ Ho / EPA
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addresses the Syrian Parliament during the first parliamentary session in Damascus on Sunday. During the 70-minute speech, Assad blamed terrorists and foreign powers for the country's violence.
Following another bloody weekend in Syria, rebels said they would no longer follow a truce brokered by the United Nations, saying President Bashar al-Assad wasn’t adhering to his end of the agreement, Reuters reported.
Over the weekend, 80 Syrian troops were killed in clashes with Free Syrian Army fighters, the BBC reported, citing a UK-based activist group.
Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the U.N., was assigned to mediate the situation and has urged major powers to support his peace plan, calling it “the only option on the table.”
Pressure on the U.N. has increased in recent weeks, particularly after the U.N. found that most of the 108 people killed in Houla were killed on May 25. The United States responded to that revelation by asking a Syrian diplomat to leave within 48 hours.
On Sunday, Assad said he wasn’t responsible for the killings in Houla and that he was horrified by the massacre. He blamed rogue forces. “Even monsters do not perpetrate what we have seen," the Syrian president said.
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have debated how to work with Assad -- China and Russia have been uneasy about efforts to quell violence in Syria, where about 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the uprising began 14 months ago. Syria is one of Russia's main weapons customers, according to Reuters, and sold a large shipment of arms as recently as last week, according to Reuters.
Assad: Syria faces 'real war waged from the outside'
In an online question-and-answer session with readers, reporter Philip Gourevitch of The New Yorker said it was unlikely Western forces would get involved, even if China and Russia were out of the equation. He said that China and Russia have given "someone for us to blame."
"I'm not at all sure that there's any Western appetite to go into Syria," Gourevitch said.
"When Russia and China refused to sign on to a toothless resolution condemning Assad and calling for him to step down early this year, Hillary Clinton called their action (or inaction) ‘despicable,'" Gourevitch said. “But without their resistance, we would not look more effective -- and we might look much less effective.”
Houla Media Center / EPA
A Syrian citizen group produced this image of bodies being prepared for burial following the Houla massacre of 103 people, most of them civilians, on May 25.
Clinton condemns Syria massacre: Assad's 'rule by murder' must end
Gourevitch also noted that Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, “slaughtered 10,000 people 30 years ago to crush opposition – and it pretty much worked.”
Although thousands of soldiers have deserted the Syrian army, Gourevitch said that Assad still has hundreds of thousands of fighters and a “fearsome arsenal” that includes stockpiles of chemical weapons. Further, he said, no Syrian diplomats have defected, unlike Libyan diplomats before the fall of Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.
In a piece for The New Yorker, Gourevitch wrote about an encounter between Eli Wiesel and President Obama at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, asked Obama why, if anything had been learned from past genocides, was Assad still in power?
According to Gourevitch, Obama replied: “There will be senseless deaths that aren’t prevented. There will be stories of pain and hardship that test our hopes and try our conscience.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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That lying Assad , 80 Syrian troops were killed , WOW would somebody tell Mr. Anderson Cooper of CNN and the rest of our Media , And why you telling them , Tell Her majesty Queen HILLARY and John McCain and the rest of our lying politicians , that these rebels , they are not the innocent people they are trying to betray them to be , They are their Alqaeda fighters from Libya , Iraq , Kosovo and every little Muslim Country they can find these ruthless killers , to bring to Syria , Its a shame ,When a country like the US let people like the Saudis and Qataris and off course the little innocent child of ours ISRAEL , DICTATE OUR FOREIGN POLICY WHERE WE LIE TO OUR OWN PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING , The Christians being mascaraed by these thugs , With our arms and trained thugs . Shame on everybody that believe these people , They lied to us about Iraq and Libya and probably every little mistake they do , Cost the lives of our Children's and money and almost took our nation into poverty , And you all still believe every thing they say . I hope Assad take care of every Alqaeda rebel in his country , Because the way it looks , nobody else would .
The chaos and killings go on and on. Horrible.
The United States
The United Nations
The United
I can not see the forrest for the trees anymore.
The needless blood letting. These aren't even sacrfices. Pure unadulerated murdering. Makes no sense to me.
How many more must die in an effort to save peoples lives. Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.
These are the problems that Divide United peoples.
Whatever, Whoever is behind this all has MASTERED THE ART OF DIVIDE AND CONQUER.
SLOW DOWN! Calm.
Lets just hold our breath a little and see what's really going on. No more second quessing.
"The United"???
What United? the United Kingdom? Manchester United? Leeds United? West Ham United? (Pres. Obama roots for them)
But seriously, why the scratch is the UN going in there De-clawed? I would not want to go into that infernal, asinine, 5-Millennium-old Imbroglio in the first place, but if I had to, I would wanted to have body armor, and be armed to the top of my hair, let alone the teeth.
Perhaps the Syrians who are pursuing Democracy should "grow up" and seek help from the very Democracy they are constantly trying to destroy. That would be a start.
Have the most corrupt, biased, partisan UN and its agencies done anything useful till now?
Let the human rights groups, UN and other one-eyed Jacks supporting the bigoted, barbaric and beastly Syrian rebels, al-Qaida, MB answer first how many "women and children", "innocents" were killed in Sudan, Darfur, Pakistan and other places?
As austerity measure, wind up that UN and its agencies.
I won't even talk about Al-Qaida, seeing as how no one denies there terrorists however "Beastly Syrian rebels" is a load. They are fighting a regime that is brutal and cruel. Assad had children intentionally killed and tortured, if you agree that its his right, you can go join the Syrian Army. I for one think that SOMEONE has to go in there and stop this, regardless of who. Now Sudan and the Darfur region conflicts were over oil, South Sudan has oil, and they are a country with sovereignty since they one their independence. Sudan stole that oil and was told to back off and chose to kill people again to get what they want, its all they know that works. So in conclusion, go to hell, the UN would work well if it wasn't for those damned vetos.
Some can only see killing of children and women when Saudis point out!
The helpless UN is the modern-day paper tiger of this world!!! If they really want to get rid of Assad without wasting a lot of money or blood, they need the Israel prime minister telling Assad to go away. IF ISRAEL SPEAKS, ASSAD WILL OBEY because Israel army can reach Damascus within one day if they want. However, Israel want Assad to stay so he can keep on weakening Syria (an ancient enemy of Israel). The enemy of my enemy is my friend!!! To get Israel's assistance, UN will need to redraw the map of the Middle East giving Israel whatever it wants (Jerusalem, Golan Height...).
Actually this is just another internal, civil war that the UN, EU and US have no business being in. We have civil wars breaking out in Yemen, Mali, Algeria, Libya, etc. Yet, the UN, EU and US look the other way for these (civil) wars. Were the Group of Three serious, they could take Damascus in a day. Having said that, I say no troops on the ground from any foreign country. It is high time the Group of Three quits fighting the Muslim Worlds wars.
I fully agree with Time4aPurge. You are missing immediate problems: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Assad is one of the best ME leaders.
If any rulers in the world qualify to be thrown out, they are the most despotic, autocratic and bigoted Sunni Saudi (a ruler with 5000 princes and princesses and more captive slave girls and women to enjoy), Kuwaiti, UAE and other Arab League Sunni rulers.
They invented Iraqi wars, high oil price manipulations and made themselves rich.
They gave back their Sunni extremist versions of hate preaching and killers training centers, mosques all over the world and worst economic mess in the US, Europe (PIIGS) and some more nations. They are backers of the Islamic killers, al-Qaeda and other label terrorist organizations.
These barbarians and beasts are responsible for 80 percent of world problems.
Now Saudis, oil companies and their lobbyists again are outsourcing their dirty jobs in Syria and Iran to the US, Britain and European nations.
So there are sanctions on Iranian oil!
Just watch oil prices jumping to $200 and Saudis, oil companies, lobbyists and the politicians’ political contributions making windfalls.
There will be more economic turmoils.
Critical times hard to deal with will be here.
Just add this to the long list of failures brokered by the UN...
Words backed-up with soldiers in Blue helmets and little fire-power. They will ALWAYS be defeated by the people who have the bigger guns...
why all the fuss??..arm the rebels and let the muslum slaughter begin..after all.. thats what being a 3rd world muslum is all about..killing.
Racist.
What did people expect ? Assad is like Nero as are all dictators, they would rather die than turn their bare ass up into the air. Someone has to kill him.
Honestly, I think everybody in the middle east should be issued an AK47, 1,000 rounds of ammo, 20 hand grenades and an RPG with 20 rounds of ammunition.
OIL WOULD BE FREE !!!
"U.N. struggles for answers as Syrian truce falls apart" Wow! I knew the UN lived in it's own world. This only proves it once again. The "truce" never happened. Not from day one; not now! Both sides continued to fight. Both sides maneuvered to gain strategic ground. Both sides continued to re-supply. Both sides continued to commit atrocities. Both sides continued to defend their territories.
Then, according to this article "rebels said they would no longer follow a truce brokered by the United Nations, saying President Bashar al-Assad wasn’t adhering to his end of the agreement". FYI UN - Both sides though you were an idiot. They were using you. Neither side had even remotely planned to stop anything. Boths sides considered this a stall tactic that they could use to their advantage. Iran, the rebels & Assad know full well how stall the UN.
Now, a question for anyone? Can anyone tell me who these so-called rebels are? Know th enames of any of the leaders? Or, are we just supposed to believe the UN when they side with the rebels, that these are really good people.
I can tell you the end result though - The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) will eventually be the winner in Syria. The very same way the Obama supported MB will eventually take over Egypt.