‘Catastrophic civil war' looms in Syria — Ban TUNIS — Strongly condemning the recent massacre in the Syrian town of Houla in which 108 people — including 49 children and 34 women — were killed, Saudi Arabia Thursday demanded that perpetrators of the heinous crime be punished severely. Addressing the Arab-China cooperation forum in the Tunisian town of Hammamet, Dr. Nizar Obeid Madani, Kingdom's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said China should use its influence to help stop the violence in Syria where an anti-regime uprising has entered its 15th month. China, along with Russia, had blocked efforts to take more robust action against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in the United Nations Security Council, but pressure for a firm response has grown since the Houla massacre last week. Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, said the Arabs greatly respect Chinese efforts to find a solution in Syria. “But we hope it will redouble this effort to stop the machine of violence and death and to put more pressure on the Syrian government to respect its commitments under the Annan plan,” he said, referring to a peace plan proposed by UN-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan. Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, a former political prisoner swept to power in last year's “Arab Spring” revolution, said inaction could lead eventually to foreign military intervention in Syria, something which Russia and China oppose. “China could play a decisive role in halting the suffering of the Syrian people and closing off the option of military intervention, by pushing for a scenario similar to the one in Yemen,” Marzouki said. Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned that Syria risks a “catastrophic civil war” following the massacre that sparked global outrage, as the US slammed Russia for resisting UN action against Damascus. Armed Syrian rebels upped the ante, meanwhile, by threatening new action against the Syrian regime unless it falls in line by midday (0900 GMT) Friday with a six-point Annan peace plan. Ban, addressing a forum in Istanbul, made it clear he too expected Damascus to implement Annan's blueprint, which includes a ceasefire that should have taken effect on April 12 but has been violated daily. “I demand that the government of Syria act on its commitment to the Annan peace plan,” he told a UN-led Alliance of Civilizations initiative. In Denmark, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Russia's policy of resisting UN Security Council action against Damascus could contribute to a civil war. The Russians “are telling me they don't want to see a civil war. I have been telling them their policy is going help to contribute to a civil war,” she told a mainly student audience in Copenhagen. — Agencies Clinton warned that unless checked, the deadly violence in Syria could lead to civil war or even develop into a proxy war because of Iran's support for the Assad regime. A team led by Annan visited Syria Tuesday and called for “concrete gestures” from President Bashar Al-Assad on halting the violence. Speaking in reaction to the “barbarous massacre of women and children at Houla,” the Free Syrian Army said “there is no more justification for us to unilaterally respect the truce because (Assad) has buried Annan's plan.” It added that it would announce in the coming days “a series of decisive and courageous decisions for the next phase” of their struggle against Assad. Meanwhile, in talks with Kofi Annan, Jordan's king has called for a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis. The Jordanian royal palace said King Abdullah II and Annan discussed the issue behind closed doors where the king stressed that the solution should ensure the “unity of the Syrian people, restore Syria's security and stability and end violence and bloodshed there.”
