Syria edges towards sectarian civil war

Syria is nearing full-blown sectarian civil war that would be catastrophic for the entire Middle East, Western nations said, urging Russia to end its support for President Bashar al-Assad and put pressure on him to stop the bloodshed.

With anti-Assad rebels urging international envoy Kofi Annan to declare his peace plan dead, freeing them from any commitment to the tattered truce, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the prospect of spiralling violence presented “terrible” danger.

“A civil war in a country that would be driven by sectarian divides . . . could then morph into a proxy war in the region because, remember, you have Iran deeply embedded in Syria,” Clinton said during a trip to Copenhagen where she urged Moscow to increase pressure on Assad.