Lavrov: Russia will not oppose Assad’s departure if it is decided by Syrians themselves

Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said Friday that Russia will not allow adoption of international resolution allowing use of force against Syria, stressing that the world powers are inciting the opposition to continue the use of violence.        

Lavrov said that Russia does not see an alternative to the plan of international envoy Kofi Annan, and does not want this plan to stumble. He suggested holding an international conference to solve the Syrian crisis.         

“Russia will not oppose Assad’s departure if it is decided by Syrians themselves”, Lavrov said.       

Earlier on Friday, Syrian opposition figures called on the international community to provide them with “more sophisticated weapons” to bring down the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.                

In a related context, President of the Supreme Council of the Syrian Revolution Hussein Sayed said “Those who pretend to help the Syrian opposition should start supporting people inside Syria”, adding that it is unacceptable for the international community to say that it is refraining from providing support because of the rifts within the opposition “at a time when the Syrian people is still being killed”.     


In the field   

Seventeen people, including 10 women, were killed overnight by shelling in the southern Syrian town of Deraa, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted 15 months ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.            

The group, which monitors violence in Syria through a network of sources inside the country, reported fighting in the town between the army and rebels after the shelling.          

In the capital Damascus, which was once relatively secure from the unrest, it said explosions were heard overnight after some of the fiercest fighting between rebels and security forces loyal to Assad. The main road south from Damascus to Deraa was blocked by burning tyres, it said.                

U.N. observers who managed on Friday to visit the site of a reported massacre in the Syrian village of al-Qubeir saw indications that government forces had been there and traces of slaughter in some of the houses, the United Nations said.         

"Mazraat al-Qubeir was empty of its own residents and thus the observers were not able to talk to anyone who witnessed Wednesday's attack," the statement said.                   

"Inside some of the houses, blood was visible across the walls and floors," the statement said. "Fire was still burning outside houses and there was a strong stench of burnt flesh."            

"The circumstances surrounding this attack are still unclear," it added. "The names, details and number of those killed are still not confirmed. The observers are still working to ascertain the facts."