Russia, China repeat opposition to intervention in Syria

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/08/245112/russia-china-opposition-intervention-syria/

China and Russia have once again expressed opposition to foreign armed intervention and forcible regime change in Syria.

“There will not be a [United Nations] Security Council mandate for outside intervention [in Syria], I guarantee you that," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Thursday on the sidelines of a visit to Kazakhstan, AFP reported.

He added that allowing any outside military intervention against Damascus would benefit armed groups in the country, and that Moscow would veto any Security Council resolution authorizing intervention in Syria. The Kremlin’s stance was also echoed at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

"We resolutely oppose the solutions to the Syrian crisis through outside armed intervention or any attempt to forcibly promote regime change," Chinese Ambassador to the UN Li Baodong told the assembly.

Russia and China vetoed two previous Security Council resolutions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

On Thursday, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) called on the anti-Damascus rebels inside Syria to “step up military assaults” on security forces.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian government issued a statement, rejecting a report by the SNC, which had alleged that security forces had killed 100 people in the al-Qubeir village in the west-central Syria province of Hama on Wednesday.

“A terrorist group committed a heinous crime in the Hama region, which claimed nine victims. The reports by the media are contributing to spilling the blood of Syrians,” the statement said.

On Wednesday, the official Syrian Arab News Agency said that an “armed terrorist group” had killed a brigadier general and two other members of security forces in Damascus’ countryside, and two others in the western province of Latakia during the day.

Hundreds of people, including many members of the Syrian security forces, have been killed in the unrest that began in Syria in March 2011. Damascus says foreign-sponsored “saboteurs and terrorists” are responsible for the killings.