Clinton calls for friends of Syria to unite

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 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.        
She was harshly critical of Saturday's veto by Russia and China at the United Nations that blocked action against the continuing violence in Syria.            

"What happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty," she said.             

"Faced with a neutered Security Council, we have to redouble our efforts outside of the United Nations with those allies and partners who support the Syrian people's right to have a better future," Clinton told reporters after meeting top Bulgarian officials.             

Such a group could be similar  but not identical  to the Contact Group on Libya, which oversaw international help for opponents of the late deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. However, in the case of Libya, the group also coordinated NATO military operations to protect Libyan civilians, something that is not envisioned in Syria.           

 U.S. officials said a friends group would work to further squeeze the Assad regime by enhancing sanctions against it, bring disparate Syrian opposition groups inside and outside the country together, provide humanitarian relief for embattled            

Syria's opposition appealed for international backing along the lines she suggested following the double-veto at the U.N. Security Council that outraged the U.S., its European allies and Arab leaders and intensified fears that Assad would unleash even greater violence to crush protesters.            

Meanwhile, a Syrian state-run newspaper vowed Sunday that Damascus will press its crackdown on the uprising until stability is restored. Early Saturday, regime forces bombarded the restive central city of Homs in what activists said was the deadliest incident of the uprising. They reported more than 200 killed, but the regime denied any bombardment and there was no way to independently confirm the toll.           

The Russian and Chinese vetoes at the Security Council effectively killed an Arab League plan aimed at ending the violence in Syria that called for Assad to hand over his powers to his vice president and allow creation of a unity government. The resolution would have expressed support for that Arab League plan, putting pressure on Assad, who has rejected it.            

 Proponents of the Arab League plan are now searching for an alternative to address Syria's crisis, which the U.S. and many European countries have said can only be resolved by Assad's leaving power.             

Radwan Ziadeh, a prominent member of the opposition Syrian National Council said countries backing Assad's foes should form an "international coalition ... whose aim will be to lead international moves to support the revolution through political and economic aid."           

 He said he expected French, U.S. and Arab support for a coalition.            

A sensitive question is whether such a coalition would back the Free Syrian Army, a force of army defectors who in recent months have gone beyond protecting protesters in Syria to launching attacks on regime forces and trying to establish overt control in pro-opposition parts of the country. 

AP