Kurdi also called for the UN to change its operation in Syria into a "peace-enforcing mission," and that outside powers should impose a no-fly zone and a buffer zone on Syrian territory to help bring down Assad. This is essentially a call for a replay of the NATO war for regime change in Libya.
Public threats of military action have risen sharply, while Washington and its European allies have stepped up pressure on Russia to drop its opposition to outside intervention for regime change.
"Assad 's departure does not have to be a precondition, but it should be an outcome" of any political solution of the Syrian conflict, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared at a press conference in Stockholm on Sunday.
Recounting an earlier telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, she added, "My message to the foreign minister was very simple and straightforward. We all have to intensify our efforts to achieve a political transition, and Russia has to be at the table helping that to occur."
Clinton announced that she will meet later this week in Istanbul with key members of the "Friends of Syria", including France, Britain, Germany, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to discuss proposed actions.
In Berlin on Monday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his German counterpart, Guido Westerwelle said that both their governments were pressuring Russia to alter its stance on Syria.
European leaders met in St. Petersburg Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin for discussions in which Syria featured prominently. After the summit, Putin acknowledged that Syria had been discussed, but made no comment on Russia's position. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said that Russia and the 27-nation bloc have "some divergent assessments."
Meanwhile, press reports have indicated intensified preparations for direct military intervention.
The Christian Science Monitor reported on stepped up US military planning, including preparations for using cyberwarfare to neutralize the country's air defenses.
The British tabloid, the Daily Star, citing Whitehall sources, reported that "SAS troops and MI6 agents are in the country ready to help rebels if civil war breaks out."
"Safe havens would be an invasion of Syria but a chance to save lives," the paper quoted an unnamed senior Whitehall sources as saying. "The SAS will throw an armed screen around those areas that can be set up within hours."
Speaking over the weekend to the Arab League, UN envoy Kofi Annan warned that Syria is moving ever closer to "all-out war", with the danger that its internal conflict will extend to other countries in a regional war.
"The specter of all-out civil war, with a worrying sectarian dimension, grows by the day," said Annan.
This is precisely the outcome that Washington and its allies have deliberately sought to arrange, in a bid to effect regime change in Syria as a means of furthering US imperialism's grip over the oil-rich Middle East and preparing for a larger confrontation with its main rival for regional hegemony, Iran."
Crossposted at wsws.org
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