UN condemns Syria terrorist attacks, fails to reach agreement

The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned Friday's terrorist attacks in Syria and sent condolences to the victims, their families and the Syrian people but not to the government, which is the usual council practice.              

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he left out several words to get support from all 15 council members.           

The U.N.'s most powerful body remains deeply divided over the nine-month uprising against authoritarian President Bashar Assad, which has led to its failure to adopt a resolution on Syria and acrimonious exchanges and heightened tensions especially among major powers.              

Western nations and the U.S. are demanding a resolution threatening sanctions if the violence doesn't stop and condemning Assad's crackdown, which the U.N. says has killed 5,000 people. But Russia and China, which have closer ties to Assad's regime, believe extremist opponents of the government are equally responsible for the bloodshed and oppose any mention of sanctions.            

While the council was able to agree on a press statement on Friday's twin suicide bombs targeting Syria's intelligence agencies, it could not agree on another Russian-proposed statement Friday supporting the start of the Arab League mission to investigate Assad's crackdown. It called on all parties to show maximum restraint, but made no mention of the government crackdown on civilians.            

The council also remains at odds over a revised Russian-drafted resolution circulated Friday which Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig called "insufficient." He said the Western allies want a resolution incorporating all Syrian issues including spelling out the Arab League demands such as releasing political prisoners and calling for accountability for those who have perpetrated human rights violations.              

Wittig said Friday's bombings are "a sign of escalation, that the situation is rapidly deteriorating."     

AP