Dubai: The UN Security Council, including Russia, yesterday agreed to a statement endorsing Kofi Annan's efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis peacefully, providing a rare moment of global unity in the face of the year-long uprising.
The statement threatens Syria with unspecified "further steps" if it fails to comply with a six-point peace plan drawn up by Annan, the Arab League-UN envoy to Syria. Although the statement was diluted on Russia's demand, the fact that all major powers agreed to it is a blow to President Bashar Al Assad, who is fighting for his survival.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon yesterday said that the crisis was alarming and had "massive repercussions" for the entire world.
"We do not know how events will unfold. But we do know that we all have a responsibility to work for a resolution of this profound and extremely dangerous crisis," Ban said in a speech in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
On the ground, dozens were killed as the Homs district of Khalidiya came under heavy government shelling. According to Hadi Abdullah of the Syrian Revolution General Commission, there are fears the district will face a similar fate to district of Baba Amr in which hundreds were reportedly killed until the Free Syria Army was forced to retreat.
