Excerpts: Russia opposes sanctions, wants dialogue with Syria. Gulf
observers quit Syria mission. Hamas' Mashaal first official visit to Jordan
in 12 years January 25, 2012

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 25 Jan.’12:”Russia against Sanctions, Open to
Dialogue on Syria”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Russia opposes sanctions, wants dialogue with Syria

QUOTE:”U.S.: ‘We agreed today to continue close U.S.- Russia coordination in
the weeks ahead”

FULL TEXT:Russia said Wednesday[25 Jan.] it was "open to constructive
proposals" on Syria but remained opposed to any U.N. resolution that tried
to force all nations to respect sanctions previously imposed by the West.

"We are open to constructive proposals that go in line with the set task of
ending violence," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said following talks with
his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu.

His comments came as Russian and U.S. officials held talks in Moscow on ways
to stop nearly 10 months of violence in Syria that the United Nations
estimates has killed more than 5,400 people.

Lavrov said there was no need to draft new resolutions on Syria because
Russia was ready to amend its previous draft that blames both the Syrian
government and the opposition for the use of force.

But he insisted that Russia would not back U.N. action granting the global
body's approval to economic sanctions that the European Union and the United
States have already adopted against Moscow's traditional ally.

"We will not be able to back proposals under which unilaterally imposed
sanctions against Syria -- sanctions that were declared without any
consultations with Russia or China ... are blessed retroactively," said
Lavrov.

"This is simply unfair and counterproductive."

Any resolution backed by Russia "must firmly record that it cannot be used
or interpreted to justify anyone's outside military intervention in the
Syria crisis," he added.

Russia and China both blocked a previous Western attempt to have the U.N.
Security Council formally condemn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's
crackdown and impose stiff sanctions if he refuses to enter direct talks.

Moscow has since further angered the West by continuing to sell arms to its
Soviet-era ally and recently striking a new deal to supply small fighter
jets to Assad's regime.

But U.S. officials have voiced optimism that new meetings with Russian
officials held at both the U.N. headquarters in New York and in Moscow will
eventually lead to a compromise.

The U.S. embassy said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman and
Special Coordinator Fred Hof held meetings in Moscow on Wednesday[25 Jan.]
"with a particular focus on recent events in Syria.

"We agreed today to continue close U.S.-Russian coordination on Syria in the
weeks ahead."

Lavrov for his part said Russia was open to the idea of hosting direct talks
between the opposition and Assad's government.

"We will welcome any choice (of venue) suiting all sides. If the opposition
does not want to travel to Damascus, then this could be Cairo ... Turkey or
the territory of the Russian Federation," he said.

Syria has already rejected a weekend call from the Arab League for Assad to
hand power to his deputy and clear the way for a unity government within two
months.

Damascus said that Assad continued to receive Moscow's backing and Lavrov
steered clear of any mention of the Arab League's call for Assad to step
down.

Turkey however has been pressing for stronger international involvement in
the crisis and said it may work with the United Nations to help quell a
potential humanitarian crisis in Syria

"Today, we once again want to tell the Syrian leadership that it must halt
the killing of peaceful civilians, and that it must enter negotiations," the
Turkish foreign minister said following his talks with Lavrov.

"Turkey has always believed that if people demand changes and want
improvements in their lives, their demands should be supported," Davutoglu
said.

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 25 Jan.’12:”Arabs turn to UN on Syria Gulf observers
quit mission”,Reuters

SUBJECT: Gulf observers quit Syria mission

QUOTE:”Syrian Foreign Minister ‘we no longer want Arab solutions to the
crisis’ “

FULL TEXT:BEIRUT — Gulf Arab states withdrew their observers from Syria on
Tuesday[24 Jan.] after it rejected an Arab League plan for President Bashar
Assad to surrender power, prompting the group’s chief to call for UN help in
ending Syria’s bloody upheaval.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Mouallem accused the league of plotting to
engineer foreign intervention. Thousands of civilians and members of
security forces have been killed in the 10-month-old uprising against Assad.

Despite Syria’s anger, Mouallem agreed to extend by a month the mission of
the remaining Arab League observers who are monitoring implementation of a
plan to end the bloodshed. But he scornfully rejected the League’s latest
proposal.

“Definitely the solution in Syria is not the solution suggested by the Arab
League, which we have rejected. They have abandoned their role as the Arab
League and we no longer want Arab solutions to the crisis,” Mouallem said.

“Heading to the Security Council will be the third stage in their plan, and
the only thing left is the last step of internationalisation,” he told a
news conference in Damascus.

“They can head to New York or to the moon. So long as we are not paying for
their tickets it is none of our concern.”

The revolt in Syria was inspired by others that have toppled three Arab
leaders and the bloodshed has battered Assad’s standing in the world, with
Iran among his few remaining allies.

On Tuesday[24 Jan.], the death toll rose to 26 by the evening, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said. Fifteen were killed in clashes between
state forces and armed rebels in the flashpoint province of Homs.

Arab League officials said 55 Gulf Arab observers were being withdrawn while
the other 110 members of the team would continue work in Syria.

State news agency SANA said Mouallem told Arab League chief Nabil Al Arabiy
that Damascus had agreed to extend the monitoring mission until February 23.

The Gulf Cooperation Council states said in a statement they were “certain
the bloodshed and killing of innocents would continue, and that the Syrian
regime would not abide by the Arab League’s resolutions”.

Arabi and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Ben Jassim Al Thani, who heads the
League’s committee on Syria, sent a joint letter to UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon giving details of the organisation’s latest plan for a political
solution in Syria.

The letter asks for a “joint meeting between them in the UN headquarters to
inform the Security Council about developments and obtain the support of the
Council for this plan,” a League statement said.

The Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammad Ben Nawaf, said the idea of
resorting to the Security Council was to rally the world behind the Arab
League peace initiative for Syria.

“We pulled out [the monitors] because we didn’t see any positive response
from the Syrian government. But it is a process. Take it to the UN Security
Council to get the support on that initiative,” he told journalists in
London.

“We hope it doesn’t reach an escalation of a military intervention. The last
thing we want is an unstable region. We hope the Syrian regime will comply
with the Arab initiative. I think this is the logical way out, a peaceful
solution, a peaceful transition. I think this is the only hope they have.”

Mouallem poured contempt on the League’s call for Assad to hand power to a
unity government to defuse the violence.

He said that while “half the universe is against us”, Syria’s long-time ally
and arms supplier Russia, which wields a veto on the Security Council, would
never permit foreign intervention. “That is a red line for them.”

Still, the Arab League’s call for a change of Syrian government, coupled
with the diminution of the monitoring mission, will raise pressure on the
Security Council to overcome its divisions and act to stop Syria’s
bloodshed.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since the revolt erupted in March,
according to the United Nations. Damascus says “terrorists” have killed more
than 2,000 soldiers and police.

The presence of the monitors has not halted the violence, as envisaged under
a peace plan Damascus approved. The Arab observers deployed late last month
to assess Syria’s compliance with an earlier Arab League plan.

A Syrian opposition group condemned the mission’s leader, Sudanese General
Mohammed Al Dabi, for a report in which he highlighted violence by Assad’s
adversaries as well as by the president’s security forces.

The Syria-based Local Coordination Committees criticised Dabi for equating
“the butcher and the victim”, saying he had “blurred the monumental hardship
that millions of Syrians experience every day while they rise to reach
freedom, dignity, democracy and a wise system of governance”.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the Security Council’s silence on
Syria was scandalous, but that the Arab League call for Assad’s removal was
“a glimmer of light”.

++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 25 Jan.’12:”Hamas chief to visit Jordan Sunday[29
Jan.], DPA

SUBJECT:Hamas’ Meshaal first official visit to Jordan in 12 years

QUOTE: “Jordanian P.M. Awn Khasawneh announced that the expulsion of Hamas
from Jordan was ‘both a legal and constitutional mistake’ “

FULL TEXT:Amman — Hamas politburo chief Khalid Meshaal will pay his first
official visit to Jordan in 12 years next week, a senior Jordanian official
saidon Tuesday[224 Jan.].

Mishaal is expected in Amman on Sunday[29 Jan.] along with Qatar’s Crown
Prince Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and Minister of State for Media
Affairs Rakan Majali said.

Jordan expelled Meshaal and three other Hamas members to Qatar in 1999 after
closing the Amman bureau of the hard-line Palestinian movement.

The breakthrough in the stalemated relationship between Hamas and Amman came
two months ago when the Jordanian Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh announced
that the expulsion of Hamas from Jordan was both “a legal and constitutional
mistake.”

He referred to Meshaal and his colleagues as Jordanian citizens who were
forced to leave their country in violation of the Jordanian constitution. —
DPA __

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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA