U.S. floats alliance to aid Syria

By: Times-Dispatch Staff | The Associated Press
Published: February 06, 2012

BEIRUT --

The United States proposed an international coalition to support Syria's opposition Sunday after Russia and China blocked a United Nations attempt to end nearly 11 months of bloodshed, raising fears that violence will escalate.

Rebel soldiers said force was now the only way to oust President Bashar Assad, while the regime vowed to press its military crackdown.

The threat of both sides turning to greater force after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution raises the potential for Syria's turmoil to move into an even more dangerous new phase that could degenerate into outright civil war.

At least 30 civilians were killed Sunday, including five children and a woman who was hit by a bullet while standing on her balcony as troops fired on protesters in a Damascus suburb, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group.

Government forces firing mortars and heavy machine guns also battered the mountain town of Zabadani, north of Damascus, a significant opposition stronghold that fell under rebel control late last month.

"The situation is terrifying. Makeshift hospitals are full," said the activist, who only gave his first name, Fares. He said the town has been under siege for five days and there is a shortage of food and heating fuel.

Col. Riad al-Asaad, the commander of the Free Syrian Army, said "there is no other road" except military action to topple Assad.

"We consider that Syria is occupied by a criminal gang and we must liberate the country from this gang," he said.

In Bulgaria, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for "friends of democratic Syria" to unite to "support the Syrian people's right to have a better future."

The call points to the formation of a group of nations to coordinate assistance to the Syrian opposition, similar to the Contact Group on Libya, which oversaw international help for opponents of the late deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. In the case of Libya, the group also coordinated NATO military operations to protect Libyan civilians, something that is not envisioned in Syria.

U.S. officials said an alliance would work to squeeze the Assad regime by stepping up sanctions, bringing Syrian opposition groups inside and outside the country together, providing humanitarian relief for Syrian communities and working to prevent an escalation of violence by monitoring arms sales.