Kofi Annan summoned world powers to an emergency meeting on the Syrian crisis on Wednesday night after rebels launched a highly symbolic strike on a pro-government television station in Damascus.
The permanent members of the UN
security council, representatives from the Arab League and Syria's
neighbours will now meet to discuss plans that western diplomats say
include the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power. Photo: AFP
With the country's increasingly violent civil war beginning to engulf the
capital, Mr Annan, the UN's Syrian envoy, convened a crisis summit in Geneva
for this Saturday.
The permanent members of the UN security council, representatives from the
Arab League and Syria's neighbours will now meet to discuss plans that
western diplomats say include the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from
power.
A last-minute compromise ensured that western allies - the United States,
Britain and France - will sit down alongside Russia at the meeting. Russia
had refused to attend unless Iran was also allowed in, but relented after Mr
Annan withheld an invitation to Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia as a
compromise.
A British diplomat said the worsening situation in the country, which even Mr
Assad has admitted is now in a state of war, meant there was an acceptance
that a peaceful outcome had to involve the removal of the Syrian regime's
figurehead.
"We are now getting to the point where there is broad agreement on the
road map," the diplomat said.
Russia has vehemently denied previous suggestions that it is supporting regime
change in Damascus, notably after a meeting of G20 leaders in Los Cabos,
Mexico, where British officials said President Vladimir Putin had agreed in
principle to put pressure on Mr Assad, the president, to step down.
But in the last days, the situation has deteriorated within the country. Last week was the most bloody since the start of the uprising, according to the monitoring group, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said 916 people had been killed between June 20-26.
On Wednesday, rebels made one of their most daring raids to date, attacking a pro-regime but private television station in Damascus, planting bombs and killing seven people, including three journalists.
The dawn attack on Ikhbariya television's offices was condemned by the United States and human rights groups including Amnesty International, who said that even if they were acting as agents of propaganda for a dictatorship, media organisations were civilian and should not be targeted.
Ikhbariya resumed broadcasting shortly after the attack, displaying bullet holes in its two-storey concrete building and pools of blood on the floor. One building was almost entirely destroyed.
On Tuesday there were running battles between government forces and rebels in the suburbs of west Damascus, and the main road to the Lebanese border was briefly cut.
Large areas of northern Syria are now out of regime control.
Although Russia has not formally changed its stance, its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who had insisted that Iran be invited, on Tuesday said he would attend the meeting in Geneva even if it were excluded. That marked a victory for western countries including Britain which had said they would not attend if its diplomats were there.
Although Saudi Arabia was also not invited, Qatar, which has led the Arab world in opposition to the Syrian regime, and representatives of the Arab League, which has called for Mr Assad to stand down in favour of his vice-president, will be attending.
Turkey, which has moved closer to a war footing with Syria following the downing of one of its fighter jets which had intruded into Syrian air space, will also be present. TheSyrian information minister, Omran al-Zoebi, belatedly tried to claim last night that troops may have mistaken the jet for an Israeli plane, in an attempt to soothe relations with Ankara, formerly seen as an ally.
Britain and America have been pushing for greater focus on the part of the peace plan that focuses on "political transition" - the departure of the Assads - and now believe Mr Annan shares their view that this is the only way forward. Russia and China had previously blocked all such talk, but diplomats believe their attitude may be changing.
"If Kofi Annan is able to lay down a political transition road map that is endorsed by countries including Russia and China, that sends a very different message," Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state said.
The UN now says the violence is worse than before the ceasefire agreed in April under Mr Annan's six-point peace plan. Virtually none of the conditions of the ceasefire were met, and its observers are now confined to their bases as they say it is too dangerous to travel to areas where there is fighting.
A report for the UN human rights council also accused Syrian government forces of committing abuses, including executions, on an "alarming scale", and said that although it had been unable to come up with definitive proof it may have been responsible for the masscre of more than 100 people, mostly women and children, in the central town of Houla, last month. It also accused rebels of extra-judicial executions and kidnappings.
But in the last days, the situation has deteriorated within the country. Last week was the most bloody since the start of the uprising, according to the monitoring group, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said 916 people had been killed between June 20-26.
On Wednesday, rebels made one of their most daring raids to date, attacking a pro-regime but private television station in Damascus, planting bombs and killing seven people, including three journalists.
The dawn attack on Ikhbariya television's offices was condemned by the United States and human rights groups including Amnesty International, who said that even if they were acting as agents of propaganda for a dictatorship, media organisations were civilian and should not be targeted.
Ikhbariya resumed broadcasting shortly after the attack, displaying bullet holes in its two-storey concrete building and pools of blood on the floor. One building was almost entirely destroyed.
On Tuesday there were running battles between government forces and rebels in the suburbs of west Damascus, and the main road to the Lebanese border was briefly cut.
Large areas of northern Syria are now out of regime control.
Although Russia has not formally changed its stance, its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who had insisted that Iran be invited, on Tuesday said he would attend the meeting in Geneva even if it were excluded. That marked a victory for western countries including Britain which had said they would not attend if its diplomats were there.
Although Saudi Arabia was also not invited, Qatar, which has led the Arab world in opposition to the Syrian regime, and representatives of the Arab League, which has called for Mr Assad to stand down in favour of his vice-president, will be attending.
Turkey, which has moved closer to a war footing with Syria following the downing of one of its fighter jets which had intruded into Syrian air space, will also be present. TheSyrian information minister, Omran al-Zoebi, belatedly tried to claim last night that troops may have mistaken the jet for an Israeli plane, in an attempt to soothe relations with Ankara, formerly seen as an ally.
Britain and America have been pushing for greater focus on the part of the peace plan that focuses on "political transition" - the departure of the Assads - and now believe Mr Annan shares their view that this is the only way forward. Russia and China had previously blocked all such talk, but diplomats believe their attitude may be changing.
"If Kofi Annan is able to lay down a political transition road map that is endorsed by countries including Russia and China, that sends a very different message," Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state said.
The UN now says the violence is worse than before the ceasefire agreed in April under Mr Annan's six-point peace plan. Virtually none of the conditions of the ceasefire were met, and its observers are now confined to their bases as they say it is too dangerous to travel to areas where there is fighting.
A report for the UN human rights council also accused Syrian government forces of committing abuses, including executions, on an "alarming scale", and said that although it had been unable to come up with definitive proof it may have been responsible for the masscre of more than 100 people, mostly women and children, in the central town of Houla, last month. It also accused rebels of extra-judicial executions and kidnappings.
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