Syria calls on France to stop interfering in country’s affairs

               
Damascus has called on the French government to stop its intervention in the country’s internal affairs, after Paris considered the general amnesty issued by President Bachar Assad on Wednesday ‘void’ in terms that it does not exempt him from the crimes he has so far committed.

In a statement released by the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Damascus said the Syrian people will no longer welcome the French for their support of ‘terrorist cells’ inside the country. The statement also added that the general amnesty was issued on a significant date marking the withdrawal of French troops from Syria in April 1946.                      

For his part, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu that the Friends of Syria grouping of Western and Arab countries opposed the rule of President Bashar al-Assad destabilized dialogue adding that “this process is making a negative contribution to the Geneva decisions".

On another hand, the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers of the Arab League, denounced the closure of the Arab Interpol Bureau based in Damascus, holding the regime responsible for the safety of its employees.             

In the details, forces from the Syrian Interior Ministry stormed the office and tampered with its contents, taking over the bureau’s archives and expelling all staff before shutting down the entire building.

Meanwhile, reports emerged citing US fear of a rebel victory in Syria. According to the Wall Street Journal, the US administration believes that "Islamists would come out on top should the rebels win the fight". "Islamists tied to al-Qaeda increasingly dominating the opposition to Syrian President Bachar al-Assad, [will present] too swift a rebel victory [therefore] undercutting hopes for finding a diplomatic solution," the paper quoting officials from the Obama administration said.

"This assessment complicates the White House's long-standing push to see President Assad step from power. It also puts a spotlight on the U.S.'s cautious approach to helping the opposition, much to the frustration of U.S. allies including France and the U.K., which want to arm Syria's moderate rebels," the daily added.

Meanwhile, Syrian activists said a rocket attack by government forces has killed at least seven people in a village near the central city of Homs.                                 
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack on the village of Eastern Buwaydah took place Wednesday morning, adding that children were among those killed.                                     

Eastern Buwaydah is located between Homs and the Lebanese border.                                        

Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman reported heavy fighting Wednesday in the area between government troops and rebels trying to topple President Bashar Assad's regime.                 

This as the UN-Arab League Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi hopes to revamp his role as an international peace mediator in the Syrian conflict as a United Nations envoy without any official link to the Arab bloc, UN diplomats said on Tuesday.                   

Brahimi has become increasingly frustrated with the league's moves to recognize the Syrian opposition, which he feels has undermined his role as a neutral mediator, diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity.                                

Another UN diplomat confirmed the remarks. There have been rumors circulating for weeks that Brahimi might resign, though diplomats said his preference was to remain involved in Syrian peace efforts through the United Nations, an organization he has worked with for decades.            

Brahimi will present an update to the UN Security Council on Friday about the situation in Syria's two-year-old civil war, which the UN says has claimed more than 70,000 lives.     "We expect Brahimi to offer another bleak report," a diplomat said.                    

The Arab League has suspended Syria's membership and last month invited opposition leaders Moaz Alkhatib and Ghassan Hitto to attend a summit in his place.                  

The Syrian National Coalition, an opposition bloc recognized by the Arab League as the sole representative for conflict-torn Syria, opened its first embassy in Qatar last month in a diplomatic blow to President Bashar al-Assad.                      

Assad said earlier this month that "the Arab League itself lacks legitimacy."                       

Daily death tolls in Syria of around 200 are not uncommon, monitoring groups say. More than a million refugees have fled the country and the Syrian Red Crescent says nearly 4 million have been displaced internally.    


REUTERS