Damascus, Sept 8: France accused Syria of “crimes against humanity” today, as activists said regime forces killed at least 23 people, 21 of them in a tank-backed raid on the flashpoint central city of Homs.
“The Syrian regime has committed crimes against humanity,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said during talks in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. “The way it (the Syrian regime) suppressed the popular protests is unacceptable,” he said, expressing hope that Russia would change its stance and back UN condemnation of the crackdown.
The Syrian authorities, he said, should be sent “a powerful signal that such actions cannot continue.” But Lavrov gave no signs of being ready to ease a Russian position that last week saw Moscow lash the European Union for imposing a crippling oil embargo on Syria.
“We are convinced that the essential thing is to start dialogue at the talks table,” Lavrov said. Russia has staunchly opposed attempts by Western governments to push through a UN Security Council resolution targeting President Bashar al-Assad and has circulated an alternative draft calling for him to implement reforms.
European Union nations are considering fresh sanctions against Syria, a diplomatic source who asked not to be identified said in Brussels.
The United Nations says 2,200 people have been killed since democracy protests flared in Syria in mid-March. Activists said the Syrian security forces killed at least 23 more people today.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they included 21 people in Homs and two in Sarmeen, in Idlib province in the northwest.
The Local Coordination Committees, which organise the anti-regime protests on the ground, said security forces also killed one person in the central city of Hama. (AFP)
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