UN aims to press Syria, fresh clashes in Damascus

‘The situation in Syria has become an unacceptable and intolerable situation,’ UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on a visit to Indonesia, as Russia joined calls for a daily humanitarian truce.

‘We have no time to waste, no time to lose, because one minute, one hour of delay will mean more and more people dead,’ Ban warned. ‘This is the moral and political responsibility for the international community.’

His comments came ahead of a Security Council meeting later Tuesday to discuss the draft statement warning of possible ‘further measures’ if Syrian President Bashar Al Assad fails to cooperate with UN-Arab League envoy Annan.

Russia, a Security Council member and a key ally of Damascus, on Monday added its voice to growing calls for a daily humanitarian truce in Syria, where monitors say a 12-month crackdown on dissent has cost more than 9,100 lives.

France submitted the Western-drafted statement to the Security Council on Monday, calling on Assad and Syria’s opposition to ‘implement fully and immediately’ Annan’s six-point peace plan.

The plan includes a halt to the violence, humanitarian access, the release of detainees held over the past year and withdrawal of security forces from protest cities.

Russia and China have twice used their powers as permanent members of the 15-nation council to veto resolutions on Syria. They said the resolutions aimed at regime change and that they opposed any sanctions.

On the ground, a technical mission sent by Annan arrived in Damascus at the weekend for talks on a monitoring operation to end the conflict.

Fresh clashes broke out between security forces and army deserters in Damascus on Tuesday, said local activist Abu Omar. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said gunshots rang out in the Qaboon and Barzeh districts.

Elsewhere, four civilians were killed as a rocket hit their home in Homs and three others — a man, woman and their little girl — in Rastan, both cities in central Syria, it said.

The Syrian Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group, said 51 people — 22 civilians, 21 members of the security forces and nine rebels — were killed in violence across the country on Monday.

At least three rebels and a member of the security forces were killed, state television and monitors said, as clashes rocked the heavily-guarded Mazzeh neighbourhood, bringing the conflict to the capital.

In Moscow, International Committee of the Red Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is an ally of Damascus.

‘The two parties call for the Syrian government and armed groups to immediately agree to a daily humanitarian truce to allow the ICRC access to the wounded and to civilians who need to be evacuated,’ the foreign ministry said.

Moscow ‘underscored the need to allow the ICRC access to all detained persons in Syria following the protests’ against Assad’s regime.

The United States welcomed what it saw as a change in the Russian stance.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that she noticed ‘an evolution in the Russian public position’ on Syria, saying recent comments by Moscow were ‘good steps.’

As a condition for ceasefire talks, the Damascus government insisted that the opposition had to lay down its arms, diplomats at the United Nations said.

Separately, technical experts from the UN and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation are taking part in a Syrian government-led mission to assess the impact of the deadly crackdown.

The mission to 15 cities, on the first such assignment in Syria since the violence started, was launched in the flashpoint city of Homs on Sunday.