UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday called the situation in Syria “unacceptable” and urged the international community to act immediately to end the violence.
His comments came ahead of a UN Security Council meeting yesterday to discuss a draft statement urging possible “further measures” if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fails to implement a peace plan by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
The statement, which carries less weight than a resolution, could be voted on at the Security Council meeting if consensus is reached over the wording of the draft.
“The situation in Syria has become an unacceptable and intolerable situation,” Ban said in Bogor, on Indonesia’s Java island, where he addressed the country’s peacekeepers working for the UN.
“We have no time to waste, no time to lose, because one minute, one hour of delay will mean more and more people dead,” he said. “This is the moral and political responsibility for the international community.”
Ban praised the nations who had engaged in diplomatic efforts to help end the violence in Syria, where a deadly year-long government crackdown has killed thousands of opposition protesters.
“I have seen hope that the international community will continually speak in one voice. And particularly the Security Council, I hope, will be able to be united so they can speak in one voice,” he added.
Russia, a Security Council member and a key ally of Damascus, on Monday added its voice to growing calls for a humanitarian truce in Syria.
The Western-drafted statement at the UN was put to the council on Monday by France, aiming to give strong backing to Annan’s efforts to halt the 12 months of killing in Syria.
The statement, obtained by AFP, expresses “gravest concern” at the deteriorating situation in Syria and “profound regret” at the thousands of dead over the past year.
It calls on al-Assad and Syria’s opposition to “implement fully and immediately” Annan’s six-point peace plan.
France’s UN envoy Gerard Araud said he hoped it would be adopted the same day.
The plan includes a halt to the violence, humanitarian access, the release of detainees held over the past year and withdrawal of security forces from protest cities.
The Security Council meeting follows fierce fighting in Damascus on Monday, the most intense in the Syrian capital since the revolt against al-Assad’s regime erupted.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of