West Says Damascus Blast Shows Need for U.N. Resolution Stipulating Assad Exit
World powers said a suicide bombing Wednesday that killed three top Syrian officials showed the urgent need for a political transition.
"The French government, without knowing the circumstances of this attack, has always condemned terrorism. That said, given the level of violence, this makes it even more necessary and urgent to find a political transition," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the French Senate.
"We do not yet know the exact circumstances in which this attack took place," Fabius said. "It is an act of extreme importance, this shows the level of violence that has been reached even in Damascus."
The attack, which for the first time in a 16-month uprising struck at the inner core of President Bashar Assad's regime, killed defense minister General Daoud Rajha, his deputy Assef Shawkat -- Assad's brother-in-law -- and General Hassan Turkmani, the head of the regime’s so-called crisis cell.
It came as fighting raged in the capital Damascus between the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) -- comprising defected soldiers and civilians who have taken up arms -- and forces loyal to Assad.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made an urgent call Wednesday for Assad to step down amid an escalation of violence "rapidly spinning out of control."
"It's obvious that what is happening in Syria represents a real escalation in the fighting," Panetta told reporters at a joint news conference with his British counterpart Philip Hammond, who agreed with the Pentagon chief's assessment.
"All of the concerns that we've expressed for the need for Assad to step down, the need for a peaceful transition, the need to achieve a peaceful solution to that situation... by ignoring those appeals by the international community... the violence there has only gotten worse and the loss of lives has only increased."
Warning that the situation in Syria was "rapidly spinning out of control," Panetta said the international community must "bring maximum pressure on Assad to do what's right, to step down and to allow for that peaceful transition."
Hammond said he "absolutely" agreed with Panetta that the situation was "spinning out of control as the violence gets closer and closer to the heart of the regime."
"The situation in Syria is worsening day by day as the violence intensifies. Bashar Assad must understand that his struggle to retain power is futile and that nothing will stop the Syrian people's march to a democratic future," French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
"The last supporters of the regime must understand that repression leads nowhere and we urge them to dissociate themselves from the bloody repression carried out for 16 months," he said.
He said France was "more than ever committed to have a resolution adopted" at the U.N. Security Council in order to "put an end to the repression and implement a political transition in accordance with the aspirations of the Syrian people."
Valero also said that General Manaf Tlass, a key military defector and ex-ally of Assad, had been granted a residency permit in France.
"Mr. Tlass has a provisional residency permit in France. As far as we know no demand has been made for political asylum," Valero said.
"No French authority has met with General Tlass and at this time there is no plan to do so," he said.
Tlass, whose defection was announced on July 6, confirmed in a statement sent to Agence France Presse on Tuesday that he was in Paris and called for "a phase of constructive transition" in Syria.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Damascus suicide bombing showed the need for a U.N. resolution to end the crisis.
The U.N. Security Council will later Wednesday or Thursday vote on a Western resolution renewing the U.N. mission in Syria that calls for sanctions if the regime does not pull back heavy weapons, but Russia has already rejected it.
"We are aware of reports that the Syrian defense and deputy defense ministers have been killed and a number of others injured by an apparent suicide bombing in Damascus," Hague said in a statement.
"This incident, which we condemn, confirms the urgent need for a Chapter VII resolution of the U.N. Security Council on Syria."
Chapter VII of the U.N. charter deals with taking action against threats to peace and acts of aggression.
Hague added: "The situation in Syria is clearly deteriorating.
"All the members of the U.N. Security Council have a responsibility to put their weight behind the enforcement of joint special envoy Kofi Annan's plan to end the violence.
"We call on all parties to refrain from violence, and for the Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities."
Russia and China -- both permanent members of the Security Council along with Britain, France and the United States -- have blocked two previous U.N. resolutions against Syria.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday rejected the latest resolution, saying it would mean taking sides with a revolutionary movement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the suicide attack in Damascus underlined the "urgent" need for a new U.N. resolution on Syria.
"This shows that it is urgent that the next U.N. resolution be passed, on which all states in the international community should work so that the abuse of human rights stops and the political process can move forward," she said.
"You see that such a solution has not been possible. That is why I urge all those on the U.N. Security Council to agree on a joint resolution."
Source: Agence France Presse
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