U.N. action sought to pressure Syria

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a high-wattage diplomatic push Tuesday to persuade the U.N. Security Council to endorse an Arab plan for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, but she couldn’t break the steadfast objections of Russia and China.

As fighting between government and opposition forces continued on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, Clinton said that a failure by the Security Council to respond would mean being “complicit in the continuing violence,” which was approaching a civil war.

Clinton, the foreign ministers of Britain and France, and Arab allies appeared at the United Nations to back a draft resolution that calls for Assad to resign within two months, a halt to the violence and beginning a process of political transition. The draft also calls for the release of detainees and for Syria to allow outside observers into the country, including journalists.

“The alternative – spurning the Arab League, abandoning the Syrian people, emboldening the dictator – would compound this tragedy and would mark a failure of our shared responsibility and shake the credibility of the United Nations Security Council,” Clinton said.

The Obama administration and its allies are pushing for the Security Council to approve the resolution swiftly, and a vote is expected later in February. But they encountered stiff resistance from Russia – of whom Syria is an ally dating to the Soviet era – and China, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council.

Russia said it was against foreign countries participating in regime change, particularly with military force. It drew a comparison to the rebel uprising in Libya, which Russia voted in the Security Council last year to support, but which prompted a NATO military campaign that led to the eventual ouster of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said Syria could resolve its own issues, and he signaled that Russia thinks Assad can survive the uprising. He suggested informal talks in Moscow between Assad’s regime and his opponents, arguing that the Security Council “cannot impose the parameters of a settlement.”

Syrian officials have prevented most international observers from obtaining a firsthand look at the conditions in the country. While U.S. officials think that Assad won’t last, they don’t know how long he can hang on to power.

Syria’s representative at the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, called the resolution an assault on his country’s sovereignty.

Given Russia’s position, Western officials are hoping it will abstain from voting on the measure.