Russia's foreign minister said he told Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad Tuesday that Moscow wanted to see peace in the Arab world as Syrian forces resumed a bombardment of Homs, a hub of protest and rebellion against Assad's rule. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke during talks with the Syrian leader in Damascus held, his ministry said before he arrived along with Russia's foreign intelligence chief, because of an urgent need for democratic reforms to defuse the conflict. Lavrov told Assad, according to Russia's RIA news agency: “Every leader of every country must be aware of his share of responsibility. You are aware of yours. It is in our interests for Arab peoples to live in peace and agreement”. Lavrov said Assad assured him he was committed to halting bloodshed by both sides and that he was ready to seek dialogue with all political groups in Syria. Meanwhile, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Tuesday a new initiative with regional players to halt the violence in Syria, saying the veto of a UN resolution had given Al-Assad a “license to kill”. Speaking in the Turkish parliament, Erdogan denounced Russia and China's torpedoing at the weekend of a resolution backed by the West and the Arab League as a “fiasco” and said Assad had reached the end of the line. “We will start a new initiative with those countries who stand by the Syrian people, not the regime,” he said. China also said Tuesday it was considering sending its own envoys to the Middle East to help resolve the conflict in Syria. Opposition activists, meanwhile, said the fresh assault on Homs came after 95 people were killed on Monday in the city of one million, Syria's third biggest. More than 200 were reported killed there by sustaining shelling on Friday night. “The bombardment is again concentrating on Baba Amro (district of Homs). A doctor tried to get in there this morning but I heard he was wounded,” Mohammad al-Hassan, an activist in Homs, told Reuters by satellite phone. “There is no electricity and all communication with the neighbourhood has been cut.” A further 19 people were killed and at least 40 wounded in Tuesday's barrage, activists said. Some reported fighting between army defectors and government forces trying move into areas the rebels hold in Homs. European Union states followed up their denunciation of the veto by preparing a new round of sanctions on Syria, EU diplomats said on Tuesday, with the focus on central bank assets and trade in precious metals, gold and diamonds. The United States shut its embassy and said all staff had left Syria due to worsening security in the country, which has also been hit by suicide bombings in Damascus. France, Italy, Britain, Belgium and Spain recalled their ambassadors from Syria. Japan said it was considering reducing the number of its diplomatic staff in Damascus. US President Barack Obama said that, however hard Western countries are prepared to lean on Assad diplomatically, they still had no intention of using force to topple him, as they did against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya last year.
