BICOM

The United States and European Union countries were harshly critical of Russia and China yesterday after Moscow and Beijing threatened to veto a statement renewing the mandate of UNDOF (United Nations Disengagement Observer Force), the UN observer force on the Golan Heights, if the resolution included references to Syrian ‘human rights abuses.’ The renewal of the force’s mandate is usually a routine matter lacking drama. However, this year the situation was different as US and European Union diplomats attempted to include language-condemning Syrian in the initial US-drafted text. In the end, the clauses referring to Syrian internal repression were removed. The document did, however, express ‘grave concern’ at the loss of life among Palestinian demonstrators who clashed with Israeli forces on two occasions in the last months on the Golan Heights. Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Rosemary DiCarlo asserted that the Syrian authorities had deliberately engineered the protests on the Golan Heights in May and June, as a ‘transparent ploy’ to divert international attention from its crushing of internal dissent.

This is not the first time US and European diplomats have clashed with Russian and Chinese over how the international community should approach the uprising against the Assad regime. Earlier this month Russia and China threatened to veto a UN Security Council resolution, drafted by Britain and France, unless the language was changed to make clear that the UN would not get involved in the Syrian unrest. 

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition officials told the Guardian that Washington is pressing Syrian opposition to back a reform plan, a document entitled “enabling the Syrian authority to make a secure and peaceful transition to civil democracy,” that would keep President Bashar Assad in power for now, despite overthrow demands. Syrian opposition sources say US state department officials have been discreetly encouraging discussion of the unpublished draft document, which was circulated at an opposition conference held on Monday in Damascus. Washington denies backing it. A State Department spokesman told the Guardian it encouraged “genuine dialogue between the opposition and the regime, but we are not promoting anything.”

At present protests in Syria are continuing. Yesterday, for the first time, large-scale demonstrations took place in the city of Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria and the home of the Sunni business community.