Clinton: Syrian security could oust Assad
This came as Bashar al Assad’s forces pounded rebel-held areas in central Syria, killing at least 22 people, activists said.
In a move aimed at jolting the Syrian president and his allies into accepting demands for a democratic transition, over 60 nations asked the UN to plan a civilian peacekeeping mission that would deploy after the Damascus regime halted a brutal crackdown on the opposition.
Still unwilling to commit to military intervention to end the bloodshed, the group offered nothing other than the threat of increasing sanctions to compel Mr Assad’s compliance.
The “Friends of Syria” group was meeting in Tunisia, and Mrs Clinton was speaking there.
In Washington, US president Barack Obama said he would keep the pressure on Mr Assad to stop the “slaughter” of civilians.
Mr Obama said it is “imperative” that the world unites in its condemnation of the Syrian military onslaught on its people.
Thousands of people have died as civilians were fired upon in the restive city of Homs, among other places.
The US president said “it is time to stop the killing of Syrian citizens by their own government”.
Mrs Clinton said she was willing to go back to the UN as often as needed, but added: “We need to change the attitude of the Russian and Chinese governments.”
She added that members of Mr Assad’s own security forces would overthrow him if they were forced to continue targeting civilians, while many soldiers have already defected.
“We also know from many sources that there are people around Assad who are beginning to hedge their bets — they didn’t sign up to slaughter people,” she told the Tunisian forum.
“Their refusal to continue this slaughter will make them heroes in the eyes of not only Syrians, but people of conscience everywhere.”
She noted that in several other cases over the past year, military forces have removed unpopular leaders, as happened in Tunisia and Egypt.
“We saw this happen in other settings last year, I think it is going to happen in Syria,” she said.
Meanwhile, a Red Cross team evacuated seven people from a besieged neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Homs to a hospital, an official said.
Red Cross spokesman Hicham Hassan said it was not clear whether two wounded foreign reporters who are stranded in the city were moved to the hospital.
The Syrian foreign ministry said opposition forces refused to release a wounded French journalist and the bodies of two killed this week in government shelling.
The effort to evacuate the reporters and wounded local residents is part of a wider push to bring aid to people in the areas hardest hit by Syria’s efforts to quash the uprising against Mr Assad’s rule.
Workers from the local branch of the Red Cross entered one of those areas, the besieged neighbourhood of Baba Amr in Homs, to negotiate with Syrian authorities and armed opposition groups the evacuation of wounded civilians.
At least two foreign reporters who sneaked into the city were wounded in a rocket attack earlier this week. They are French journalist Edith Bouvier and British photographer Paul Conroy.
French photographer William Daniels, who was not injured, was also with them.
American correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik died in the attack.
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