EU Urges Security Council for 'Clear Stand' to End Syria Violence
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Monday called for a "clear" U.N. stance to end violence in Syria as the 27-nation bloc tightened the screws on Damascus by beefing up sanctions.
"It is time for the Security Council to take a clear stand on the need to end the violence," Ashton said as President Bashar al-Assad faced mounting global condemnation of his regime's unrelenting violence against protesters.
After this weekend saw the deadliest daily toll in near five months of anti-regime rallies, Ashton said an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council would be held later Monday "to address the serious escalation".
Beefing up its sanctions against Damascus, the EU added a further five Syrians to a blacklist of individuals and businesses associated with the repression, the fourth batch of sanctions slapped so far on the Assad regime.
An EU diplomat told Agence France Presse the five, whose names will be released Tuesday when the asset freeze and visa ban come into effect, include military and intelligence figures, including a member of Assad's clan.
"Unfortunately, since then mass arrests, violence and the killing of civilians have continued and even escalated, as witnessed during the attacks on Hama and other Syrian cities during the weekend," Ashton said in a statement.
Of the nearly 140 killed Sunday, 100 were shot as security forces stormed the city of Hama, human rights activists said.
"This shows the Syrian leadership is unwilling to implement the reforms it has promised in response to the legitimate requests of the Syrian people," Ashton added.
To date, the 27-nation bloc has slapped an asset freeze and visa ban on some 30 businesses and individuals linked to Assad, including members of his family and three commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard accused of aiding the crackdown.
The new measures come amid strong international condemnation of the use of force and repression against civilian Syrian protesters this weekend.
"It is one of the deadliest days" since the protests erupted on March 15, said Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The U.N. Security Council has not yet been able to agree even on a statement on Assad's crackdown, and Russia and China have threatened to veto any formal resolution.
However Moscow on Monday urged Damascus to stop the repression in its strongest criticism yet of the Syrian crackdown.
At least 1,583 civilians and 369 members of the army and security forces have been killed since mid-March in Syria, according to the Observatory.
Source: Agence France Presse
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