UN says Syria civil war “imminent,” West urges sanctions

Reuters: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the Security Council on Thursday that a full-blown civil war in Syria was “imminent,” while international mediator Kofi Annan said it was time to step up the pressure on Damascus to halt the violence.

The Syrian opposition and Western and Gulf nations seeking President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster increasingly see Annan’s six-point peace plan as doomed because of Syria’s consistent use of military force to crush an increasingly militarised opposition.

Western Security Council diplomats said the message from Annan and Ban at the United Nations was clear: It was time to hit Assad’s government with sanctions.

“The Syrian people are bleeding,” Ban told reporters after addressing the Security Council. “They are angry. They want peace and dignity. Above all, they all want action.”

“The danger of a civil war is imminent and real,” he said, adding that “terrorists are exploiting the chaos.”

Both Ban and Annan strongly condemned a reported massacre of at least 78 people Mazraat al-Qubeir and acknowledged that Annan’s peace plan was not working.

“Today’s news reports of another massacre in (Mazraat) al-Qubeir ... are shocking and sickening,” Ban told a special session of the 193-nation General Assembly.

“We condemn this unspeakable barbarity and renew our determination to bring those responsible to account,” he said.

Ban said UN monitors hoping to investigate the reports were denied access to the site where opposition activists say the massacre occurred on Wednesday.

“They are working now to get to the scene,” he said. “And I just learned a few minutes ago that while trying to do so the UN monitors were shot at with small arms.”

Syrian UNAmbassador Bashar Ja’afari told the General Assembly the new report was “truly an atrocious massacre. It is unjustifiable.” Syria’s government has blamed recent atrocities on the opposition and Islamist extremists it calls terrorists.

Speaking to the 15-nation Security Council, Ban said hopes for success of Annan’s peace bid were fading and suggested that the United Nations must soon decide whether its 300-member monitoring mission in Syria was sustainable or useful, U.N. diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was the first time the U.N. leader floated the idea of pulling the plug on the observer mission, which many countries had hoped could help end 15 months of violence.

Annan warned the council that the Syrian crisis would soon spiral out of control and called for “substantial pressure” on Damascus and penalties for undermining the peace effort, U.N. diplomats said. Earlier in the General Assembly he said failure to comply with his peace plan should not be ignored.

“It must be made clear that there will be consequences if compliance is not forthcoming,” Annan told the assembly.

Britain’s UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters after a three-hour closed-door meeting of the Security Council with Ban and Annan that it was time for sanctions.

“I suggested that the time had come when the Security Council should strengthen its support for the plan, including through a ... resolution with clear timelines and triggers for sanctions in the event of non-compliance,” Lyall Grant said.