Hague: Syria 'on the edge'
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned that Syria is “clearly on the edge” of a descent into deeper violence following the latest massacre in the country.
The peace plan brokered by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has “clearly failed so far”, Mr Hague said as he called for more action by Russia and China to press President Bashar Assad’s regime to end the violence.
In a pessimistic assessment of the prospects of peace, he said: “Time is not yet at an end, it’s clearly running out.”
Violence on both sides is escalating and the situation is “rapidly deteriorating”, he told reporters.
Mr Hague’s comments came as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said observers from the mission in Syria were shot at as they tried to reach the scene of the massacre in central Hama.
Meanwhile Mr Annan is urging the world’s nations to unite behind a new effort to end the escalating Syrian conflict and says there should be “consequences” if his peace plan is not implemented.
Mr Annan told the UN General Assembly the time has come to determine what more can be done.
He urged the international community to take their unity to a new level and “genuinely unite behind one process and act and speak with one voice”.
He said if this happens, he believes it is “still possible to avert the worst” – increasing violence, polarisation and radicalisation, and the spillover of the conflict.
Mr Annan expressed “horror and condemnation” at yesterday’s massacre and said “we cannot allow mass killing to become part of everyday reality in Syria”.
