Italy recall ambassador to Syria

Italy has become the first EU country to recall its ambassador to Syria in protest at the repression of anti-government demonstrations and urged other nations do the same.

Meanwhile Russia said it would not oppose a United Nations resolution to condemn the violence.

Italy is the first European Union nation to withdraw its ambassador, although the EU has been tightening sanctions and imposed asset freezes and travel bans against five additional Syrian military and government officials this week.

At the UN headquarters in New York, the Security Council began negotiating a text yesterday after failing for more than three months to make any statement on the Syrian violence – except to condemn the attacks on the US and French embassies in Damascus.

During talks that dragged late into the evening, the council was negotiating on the wording of a European-drafted resolution that was updated with proposals from Brazil and others in what several ambassadors called a positive step.

India’s UN ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, the current council president, had said the goal was to reach tentative agreement on a text that could be sent to capitals overnight and then tackle the divisive issue of whether it should be adopted as a legally-binding resolution or a weaker presidential statement.

After lengthy discussions, the ambassadors broke for the evening and agreed to resume negotiations today after receiving guidance from their capitals.

“Unfortunately no final agreement was possible today,” said Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin. He said he hoped the overnight break would allow members “to see whether common ground is possible”.

Lesser-ranking diplomats said one key unresolved issue was how to address the violence against unarmed civilians and attacks on Syrian security forces.

The Europeans and the US insist that the Syrian government’s violence against unarmed civilians, which account for the vast number of casualties, cannot be equated with the attacks on security forces, the diplomats said.

Russia’s government softened its stance, indicating it would not oppose a resolution. Last month, Russia and China had threatened to veto the original European resolution that would have condemned the Syrian attacks, effectively blocking it.

The Europeans and US want a resolution but diplomats said other council members including India, Brazil and South Africa wanted a presidential statement.

Sergei Vershinin, chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa Department, told Russian news agencies Russia was “not categorically against” adopting a new UN resolution on Syria, but that it should not impose sanctions because that would only escalate the conflict.

Brazilian foreign minister Antonio Patriota told reporters in Brasilia his country was working with India and South Africa on a proposed resolution that he hoped would gain consensus.

The resolution would insist “that the Syrian government put an end to the violence in the shortest time possible”, he said.

He said he hoped that Brazil, India and South Africa would reach a separate agreement to send a delegation of their vice ministers to Damascus to talk with Syrian authorities about ways to end the violence.

The European-drafted resolution has faced opposition from Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil, partly because they fear that it may be used as a pretext for armed intervention against Syria.

They have argued that a UN resolution authorising the use of force to protect civilians in Libya has been misused by Nato to justify five months of air strikes against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

Italy’s Foreign Ministry said it decided to recall its envoy “in the face of the horrible repression against the civil population” by the Syrian government, which launched a deadly new push against protesters as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began.

In July, the Qatari embassy in Damascus suspended its operations and the ambassador left the country. But the impetus for that move were protests outside the embassy against Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the Syrian uprising. Al-Jazeera is based in Qatar.

Syria accuses Al-Jazeera and other media of incitement and fabricating events in their coverage of the protests.

Rome’s appeal to fellow EU nations was not immediately heeded. Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Spain and Sweden had no such plans for now.

France also signalled no move was imminent, suggesting Rome had not sent its proposals through official diplomatic channels and there was no EU-wide initiative to recall envoys from Damascus, officials in Brussels said.

Britain’s Foreign Office said it shared Italy’s “strong concerns about the situation in Syria” but was not recalling its ambassador in Damascus.

Poland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, called instead for joint international action, with the UN Security Council playing a key role.

The Czech Republic said ambassadors were the only foreigners in a country where virtually all foreign media are banned. “We need to maintain an independent source of information there,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Vit Kolar said.

Italy said it would also suspend co-operative programs with Damascus, except aid destined to Iraqi refugees and other humanitarian assistance.

Syrian troops killed nearly 100 people in two days, firing at worshippers heading to Ramadan prayers in the city of Hama, an opposition stronghold. Yesterday the troops tightened their siege on the city, sending residents fleeing for their lives.