Russia Says West Using “Blackmail” over Syria

Russia Says West Using “Blackmail” over Syria
By AJ Correspondents – 16 July, 2012 – IPS

DOHA, Qatar, Jul 16 2012 (Al Jazeera) – Russia has said it would block moves at the U.N. Security Council to extend a U.N. monitoring mission in Syria if Western powers did not stop resorting to “blackmail” by threatening sanctions against Damascus.

Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan holds a press conference on Jul. 11. Credit: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, staked out a tough position on Monday before talks in Moscow with U.N. envoy Kofi Annan, dismissing international pressure on Russia and China to stop propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

His comments are likely to dim Western diplomats’ hopes that Moscow is trying to find a face-saving way to drop its support for Assad and accept that he should have no role in a transition.

“To our great regret, we are seeing elements of blackmail,” Lavrov told a news conference before Annan started a two-day visit that will include talks on Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin. “This is a counter-productive and a dangerous approach.”

Meanwhile, Morocco has asked Syria’s ambassador to Rabat to leave the country, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

The Syrian government in a tit-for-tat response declared the Moroccan envoy to Damascus as persona non grata and asked him to leave.

Violence in capital

There has been no let up in violence in Syria with parts of the capital, Damascus, under fire for a second day, activists have said, with government forces blocking roads in and out of the city.

“Mortar shelling resumed in the early morning,” the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a grass roots network of activists, said on Monday.

Reuters news agency reports that the crackle of small arms fire echoes through the streets of Damascus.

Syrian troops backed by armoured vehicles were said to have advanced through the city centre, driving out rebels who had secured a foothold within striking distance of major state installations.

The military offensive on Monday reportedly continued to batter several neighbourhoods in the capital, including Midan, Tadamon – where snipers are reported to be positioned on rooftops – Kfar Souseh, Nahr Aisha and Sidi Qadad.

The LCC added that government troops and rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army also clashed in the western Damascus district of Kfar Souseh.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “dawn battles on the road south of Kfar Souseh, between rebel fighters and soldiers who were in a convoy passing through the area”. …more