UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – In its first substantive action on Syria’s five-month-old uprising, the U.N. Security Council yesterday overcame deep divisions and condemned Damascus’ bloody crackdown on civilian protesters.
The only dissenter in the council was Lebanon, where Syrian influence is strong. Beirut disassociated itself from a formal statement, agreed by the other 14 members, that backers said helped to isolate the Syrian leadership.
The statement, read out to a council meeting by Indian Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, this month’s president of the body, “condemns widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities.”
The document, agreed after three days of hard bargaining instead of a full council resolution that the West would have preferred, urged Damascus to fully respect human rights and comply with its obligations under international law.
It called for “an immediate end to all violence and urges all sides to act with utmost restraint, and to refrain from reprisals, including attacks against state institutions.”
That phrase was a gesture to Russia and other countries that had called for a balanced statement that would apportion to blame to both sides for the violence in the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Syria says it faces opposition by armed extremists.
Lebanese envoy Caroline Ziade told the council the Western-drafted statement “does not help in addressing the current situation in Syria.” Statements are meant to be unanimous, meaning Lebanon could have blocked it, but by simply disassociating itself Beirut allowed the statement to pass.
