Friends of Syria urge more sanctions, UN action

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France hosted the third "Friends of Syria" meeting Friday aiming to co-ordinate Western and Arab efforts to end ongoing violence in the country.

A group of Western and Arab states pressing for an end to President Bashar al-Assad's rule in Syria urged stronger U.N. Security Council action on the crisis on Friday and called for "broader and tougher" sanctions.

Foreign ministers and senior diplomats from the "Friends of Syria" group agreed after a morning of talks in Paris to "massively increase" aid to Syrian rebels and to provide them with communications equipment.

From Paris, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged world powers on Friday to show Russia and China would pay a price for impeding progress toward a democratic transition in Syria.

"It is frankly not enough just to come to the Friends of the Syrian People (meeting) because I will tell you very frankly, I don't think Russia and China believe they are paying any price at all - nothing at all - for standing up on behalf of the Assad regime," Clinton said at a gathering of countries seeking to speed the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"The only way that will change is if every nation represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and China will pay a price because they are holding up progress - blockading it - (and) that is no longer tolerable."

British Foreign Minister William Hague stated that a solution for Syria should be found under chapter 7 of the UN. He added that countries which are not imposing sanctions on Syria are allowing further killing.

In his opening statement French President Francois Holland hoped the meeting would act as a pressure card the UN to place harder sanctions on Syria. For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davut Oglu called for the stepping down of the Syrian regime adding that his country will not stand for the sending of weapons into Syria which may harm its people. "Assad's aftermath is something to be prepared for" he said.

Qatari PM Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Jaber Al-Thani called for a solution by the International Community outside the frame of the UN. As for the Head of the Syrian National Council Abdul Basit Seida, his demands reiterated the formation of buffer zone as well as turning Syria into a no-fly-zone.

The Paris meeting follows one in Tunis in February and another in April in Istanbul that both called in vain for tougher action against the Assad regime.
The United States, France, Britain, Germany, and Arab nations Saudi Arabia and Qatar are leaders of the "Friends", whose more than 60 members include most of the EU states and many Arab League countries.

REUTERS/LBCI

"Friends of Syria" urge more sanctions, UN action