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| Joint UN-Arab Syria envoy Kofi Annan (C-L) meets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (C-R) in Damascus on May 29 (Photo: english.cntv.cn) |
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Syria. Annan praised the “positive spirit” of the coordination between the Syrian government and the UN observers in Syria. Annan expressed his frank view that the six-point peace plan cannot succeed without bold steps to stop the violence. Annan said the Syrian future will be bloodshed and division if the killings continue.
Al-Assad said the success of Annan’s plan depends on stopping terrorist acts and on the cooperation of the countries which support the armed terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, the US has expelled Syrian diplomats in response to last week’s massacre in the town of Houla, which left over 100 people dead. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said yesterday that the US has announced the expulsion of Syria’s top diplomat, Charge d’Affairs Zouheir Jabbour, giving him 72 hours to leave the country. There is no Syrian Ambassador in the US since the last one was sent to another port last year. Nuland said the US holds the Syrian Government responsible for the killing of 100 Syrians, calling the massacre an unambiguous indictment of the Syrian Government’s flagrant violations of its UN Security Council obligations. Other Western allies, including the UK, France, Australia, Spain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Bulgaria and the Netherlands also said they will expel Syrian diplomats. Some countries will withdraw their ambassadors from Syria.
President Bashar al-Assad’s Government denied responsibility for the massacre and blamed it on the opposition.