Experts say that charges of attack helicopter supplies to Syria are a precursor to implementing what NATO has used in almost every campaign in the last 10 years, a no-fly zone, as they did in Libya to get rid of Gaddafi.
Russia will continue to seek a peaceful resolution as it has from the very beginning of the conflict in Syria and apparently the US will continue to use the situation in Syria to increase tensions with the Russian Federation.
The situation in Syria continues to worsen as tensions mount between Moscow and Washington and the UN has suspended their observer mission in the country.
The latest development in Syria, the suspension of the UN Mission, comes on the heels of intensified efforts by Moscow and the international community to come to a peaceful resolution to the crisis with Moscow’s recent calls for an international conference on Syria.
According to statements made to the press by the head of the UN Mission, Norwegian Major General Robert Mood, regarding the intensified violence over the last ten days, there is an increased risk to UN observers and as he put it, “a lack of willingness by the parties to seek a peaceful solution.” Therefore the decision has been made to suspend the UN Observer Mission.
Mood did add that the suspension would be reviewed on a daily basis and that operations would resume when they see the situation fit to carry out their mandated activities.
Mood repeated that the violence posed “significant risks” to the unarmed members of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), who number 300 but that for now they will not be leaving the country but will stay in their compounds and have halted all patrols.
According to press reports. Syria’s Foreign Ministry released a statement that it had been told of the decision to suspend the mission on Friday evening and had told Mood that it understood his concerns and blamed the attacks on the rebels who are fighting government forces.
A statement by the Syrian Foreign Ministry said that since the start of the April 12th ceasefire deal “armed terrorist groups” have escalated their “criminal activities, which have often targeted the UN observers.”
Moscow continues to call for an international conference on Syria which will involve all of the players in the region. In a telephone conversation on Saturday with UN and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, made on Annan’s initiative, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that this kind of forum could help end the bloodshed and kick-start the peace settlement process in Syria. According to TASS, during the conversation the UN and Arab League envoy supported the adoption of an international approach to the settlement of the Syrian crisis.
Speaking of the international conference on Syria to be held in Geneva on June 30th, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that Russia will participate if its requirements regarding the goal of the conference and the countries invited are met.
These requirements include all countries participating in the conference committing their resources to the facilitation of an all-inclusive political process in Syria and that all countries in the region who can influence the situation should attend, including Iran, which the U.S. has spoken against.
Meanwhile tension continues to escalate between the US and Russia with Secretary of State Clinton continuing to issue provocative statements against the Russian Federation. According to Rick Rozoff, at Stop NATO, on June 12th Clinton appeared with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Brookings Institution and stated; “We have confronted the Russians about stopping their continued arms shipments to Syria.” Russia had had contracts going back years before the conflict for the supply of defensive technology (only) to Syria.
She also added: “And we are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria, which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically,” statements which began the entire helicopter scandal and redactions by the US.
Experts say that charges of attack helicopter supplies to Syria are a precursor to implementing what NATO has used in almost every campaign in the last 10 years, a no-fly zone, as they did in Libya to get rid of Gaddafi.
Russian officials said the charges were a crude fabrication and cruder provocation, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stating: “We are not delivering to Syria, or anywhere else, items that could be used against peaceful demonstrators. In this we differ from the United States, which regularly delivers riot control equipment to the region, including a recent delivery to a Persian Gulf country. But for some reason the Americans consider this to be par for the course.”
Rozoff also said that, “Clinton has been steadily raising the level of anti-Russian invective, vilification and intimidation in recent months.”
The Voice of Russia’s Andrey Iyashenko reported that a “Pentagon official who wished to remain anonymous” reported that Clinton has “exaggerated a little bit” the real state of affairs concerning military-technical cooperation between Moscow and Damascus in order “to put the Russians in a difficult situation”.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit beginning on Monday in Mexico.
Russia will continue to seek a peaceful resolution as it has from the very beginning of the conflict in Syria and apparently the US will continue to use the situation in Syria to increase tensions with the Russian Federation. One has to ask oneself: why?
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