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US, Russia agree Syrian violence must halt

United States President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed today the violence in Syria must stop but gave no sign of agreeing on how to do it even as Syrian security forces pounded opposition areas across the country.

Intense artillery fire was reported in Douma, a town 15 kilometres outside the Syrian capital Damascus that for weeks has been under the partial control of rebels who have joined the 15-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

At least 79 people were killed in violence that has escalated since international observers suspended their mission, activists said.

A Russian naval source said Moscow was preparing to send marines to Syria in the event it needed to protect personnel and remove equipment from its naval facility in Syria’s Mediterranean port of Tartous, according to the Interfax news agency.

Russia is one of the Syrian government’s staunchest backers.

International efforts to halt the violence are deadlocked because Russia and China, which wield vetoes in the United Nations Security Council, have blocked tougher action against Assad. They say the solution must come through political dialogue, an approach most of the Syrian opposition rejects.

Obama and Putin held two hours of talks – longer than originally planned – at a Group of 20 summit in Mexico after a week of Cold War-style recriminations between US and Russian diplomats over Syria. Putin frowned and Obama wore a sober expression during remarks to reporters after the meeting.

“We agreed that we need to see a cessation of the violence, that a political process has to be created to prevent civil war,” Obama told reporters.

“From my point of view, we have found many common points on this issue” of Syria, Putin said, adding the two sides would continue discussions.

Obama said they pledged to “work with other international actors,” including UN/Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, to find a resolution.

Obama and Western allies want Russia to stop shielding Assad from further Security Council sanctions aimed at forcing him from power. Putin is suspicious of US motives especially after the NATO-assisted ouster of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi last year, and has offered little signs of softening his stance.

Though the United States has shown no appetite for a new Libya-style intervention, Russia is reluctant to abandon Syria, a longtime arms customer, and risk losing its last firm foothold in the Middle East, including access to a warm-water navy base.

Russia supports Assad’s argument that foreign-backed terrorists are behind the unrest. Russia has repeatedly urged Western and Arab countries, who mostly back the rebels, to rein in their support in order to stem the violence.

International outrage over Syria has grown in recent weeks after two reported massacres in which almost 200 civilians were killed, most of them from the Sunni Muslim majority that has led the revolt. Assad comes from Syria’s Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam that has mostly backed the president.

Heavier fighting and apparent sectarian killings have led many, including the head of U.N. peacekeeping forces, to brand the violence a civil war.

SOURCE:ONENEWS

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