U.S. Urges World to Condemn 'Horrific Brutality in Homs'
The United States called Friday on all countries to condemn the "horrific" violence in Syria as President Barack Obama declared that leader Bashar al-Assad's days were numbered.
U.S. officials voiced outrage as the Red Cross said it was unable to gain access to the vanquished rebel stronghold of Baba Amr in Homs, where government forces were reported to be conducting reprisals after a month-long bombardment.
"I think that anyone who has watched a single minute of footage of the brutal assault of the Assad regime on his own people understands that the trigger-happiness is all on one side," White House spokesman Jay Carney said, referring to people being "trigger happy" with their guns.
"And that the brutality being carried out in the city of Homs in the last 24 to 48 hours is disgraceful and horrific, and should be condemned by every nation of the world," he said.
Carney urged all countries to join international efforts "to take action to prevent further brutality and the murder of Syrian people."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said that despite previous positive signals from authorities, Syria has blocked access to Baba Amr. More than 20,000 civilians have been living in the area under assault with a sole doctor said to be caring for scores of casualties.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the situation "absolutely horrific," pointing to accounts of continued shelling and shortages of water, food and medical supplies.
"We are all hoping that the humanitarian aid that the Syrian government is claiming it is going to allow into Homs today can begin to flow and that this can continue and that the poor suffering people there will get some of the relief that they need," she said.
Obama, in an interview released Friday with the Atlantic Monthly, predicted that Assad would eventually fall after the nearly year-long uprising -- removing Iran's key ally in the region.
"It is our estimation that (Assad's) days are numbered. It's a matter not of if but when," Obama said.
"Now, can we accelerate that? We're working with the world community to try to do that," he said.
Obama acknowledged that Syria is bigger, more sophisticated and more complicated than Libya, and that countries such as Russia are blocking U.N. action.
However, he pointed to U.S. efforts through the "Friends of Syria" group to promote humanitarian relief to cities under attack.
"But they can also accelerate a transition to a peaceful and stable and representative Syrian government," he said. "If that happens, that will be a profound loss for Iran."
Russia has long been the chief diplomatic backer of Syria, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin late Thursday stopped short of backing Assad and refused to predict if the Syrian leader would stay in power.
Russia and China, which vetoed two previous U.N. resolutions that sought to put pressure on Assad, on Thursday voted at the Security Council to call on Syria to allow "immediate" humanitarian access to protest cities.
"We are continuing to talk to the Russians at all levels in Moscow, in New York. There have been some better statements from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the last 24 hours with regard to the humanitarian requirement," said Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman.
"If and when this translates into either pressure that is visible on Assad or something that we can all do in the Security Council that will help the suffering Syrian people, we'll just have to see," she said.
"The humanitarian crisis is absolutely acute and we would hope -- as a matter of humanity, as a matter of dignity, as a matter of morality -- Russia would do what it could to end it," she said.
At the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon demanded that Syria unconditionally let in humanitarian aid.
Source: Agence France Presse
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