New Syria sanctions

The European Union is debating a series of new sanctions against Syria, including the suspension of commercial flights and freezing the assets of the Syrian Central Bank, in an effort to stop the ongoing violence in the country.

"We're trying to make things change," a senior EU official said Wednesday on condition of anonymity, voicing concern that the violence could last a long time. "We're facing a wall, and we have to find a way of climbing over that wall and moving ahead."

Also among the sanctions being debated by the 27-state bloc are whether to ban the import of phosphates from Syria and suspend trade in gold and other gems in an attempt to cut of the government's funding. The sanctions could be adopted at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on February 27.

A total flight ban proposed by Germany was also being considered, but some countries have expressed reservations, saying planes may be needed in case of a humanitarian emergency.

"We will get in the end new sanctions against Syria. I have no doubt about that. What will be the exact shape of sanctions is what remains to be seen," the official said.

Renewed attacks

Syrian forces on Wednesday launched renewed attacks in the city of Homs, killing at least 47 people, many of them civilians, according to activists.

"The security forces started to storm the al-Khalidiyeh, al-Inshaat, Bab Amr neighborhoods, targeting residential areas and hospitals," Omar Idibi, spokesman of the Syrian opposition Local Coordination Committees, told the dpa news agency in Beirut.

The areas have been the center of anti-regime protests since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths were caused by shelling and gunfire from Syrian forces.

The attacks came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Assad in Damascus to discuss a peaceful solution to the ongoing violence, which has claimed more than 6,800 lives, according to the Observatory.

Speaking in Moscow on Wednesday, Lavrov said Syrians themselves must decide Assad’s fate, and not the international community.

"Any outcome of national dialogue should become the result of agreement between the Syrians themselves and should be acceptable to all the Syrians," he said.

Lavrov added that recalling ambassadors from Damascus did help promote the Arab League’s plan to end the violence. On Tuesday, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain all recalled their ambassadors from Syria, following the lead set by Britain, Belgium and the United States a day earlier.

Aid, not weapons

President Barack Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said Tuesday the United States was considering the "possibility of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians."

"We don't think more arms into Syria is the answer," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. "We think the answer is to get to a national democratic dialogue, for the violence to stop, for the regime's tanks to come out of the cities and then for monitors to be able to go back in."

Earlier, Republican Senator John McCain had suggested the time had come to consider arming the Syrian opposition, warning that "diplomacy is pretty well exhausted."

"We should start considering all options, including arming the opposition. The bloodletting has got to stop," said McCain, following a meeting with visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Washington.

"Our strong preference is not to fuel what has the potential to become a full-blown civil war," said Washington's UN ambassador, Susan Rice, in an interview with CNN. "The aim is to resolve this through peaceful means."

cmk/acb (AFP, dpa, Reuters)