Indian tourist arrivals to Egypt jump 18.8% in H1-2025: ministry data    African agribusiness market expected to reach $1tr by 2030    Price cuts underway across Egypt, says trade federation report    Egypt sets $12bn target for ready-to-wear garment exports by 2031    Israelis protest for hostage deal amid growing pressure on Netanyahu    Serbia's Vucic vows 'tough measures' against protesters after unrest    Zelenskyy seeks US security guarantees as Trump says he can 'end war now'    Egyptian pound down vs. US dollar at Monday's close – CBE    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt delivers over 30 million health services through public hospitals in H1 2025    Egypt joins Geneva negotiations on Global Plastics Treaty, calls for urgent agreement    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt, UNDP discuss outcomes of joint projects, future environmental cooperation    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt's govt. issues licensing controls for used cooking oil activities    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Egypt's Sisi: Egypt is gateway for aid to Gaza, not displacement    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Assad friend flees, US wants Russia to "pay price"
Published in The Egyptian Gazette on 06 - 07 - 2012

PARIS - As a Syrian general who was a personal friend of Bashar al-Assad fled for France, Hillary Clinton urged Assad's enemies meeting in Paris on Friday to make Russia and China "pay a price" for helping keep him power in Damascus.
The Secretary of State's remark, among Washington's toughest yet in 16 months of revolt, highlighted the gulf between Western and Arab countries, who met opposition groups in Paris to try to engineer Assad's departure, and his two supporters on the other side of the old Cold War divide, who stayed away from the talks.
"I will tell you very frankly," Clinton told the Friends of the Syrian People conference, "I don't think Russia and China believe they are paying any price at all - nothing at all - for standing up on behalf of the Assad regime. The only way that will change is if every nation represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and China will pay a price because they are holding up progress - blockading it.
"That is no longer tolerable."
The foreign ministers and senior diplomats from 50 Western, Arab and other countries - including Assad's former ally and neighbor turned bitter foe Turkey - urged stronger U.N. Security Council action and "broader and tougher" sanctions.
They also agreed to "massively increase" aid to Syria's rebels and to provide them with communications equipment, according to a final statement. Western powers are reluctant to offer much greater firepower to rebels whose ranks include anti-Western Islamists. Divisions among Assad's foes, visible notably in a fistfight at an opposition meeting in Cairo this week, have also limited the coordination of efforts to remove him by force.
As Clinton spoke, Manaf Tlas, a brigadier in the Republican Guard who attended military college with Assad and whose father was Assad's father's confidant and defense minister for 30 years, was on his way to Paris, the French government said.
There was no immediate sign that Tlas, who friends said had fled Damascus for Turkey this week, would throw in his lot with the rebels. He did not attend Friday's meeting.
But his defection was the clearest signal yet that some in Assad's inner circle think his days in power are numbered, as an uprising that began in March 2011 with a groundswell of peaceful protest turns into a civil war with strong sectarian overtones.
Tlas's father Mustapha now lives in Paris, as does Tlas's sister. The family has been a rare representative of Syria's Sunni Muslim majority in an elite dominated by Assad's fellow Alawites. Sunnis have been in the forefront of the uprising.
Assad's enemies among Syrians and in the West were quick to hail Tlas's flight as a breakthrough, while Damascus played it down. A Syrian news website quoted a Syrian official on Thursday as saying: "His desertion means nothing ... If Syrian intelligence had wanted to arrest him it would have."
Opposition sources have spoken of senior figures who are under suspicion of being potential defectors being held under virtual house arrest. Assad's opponents have been trying to encourage as many of his entourage as possible to abandon him.
While the lightly armed rebels are no match for Syria's large and well-equipped army, their hope lies in eroding loyalty and conviction within Assad's establishment to the point where it loses its hold on power.
Syria's army took control of the rebel stronghold of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Idlib province on Friday after an assault on the town backed by helicopters, rebels said.
"The Free (Syrian) Army withdrew from the town last night after it ran out of ammunition. Assad's army is in control," said Abu Hamam, a rebel spokesman who fled to a nearby village.
"They are burning the houses. They have burned my own house. I see the smoke covering the sky from where I am now."
Army shelling and assaults also killed three people in the southern province of Deraa, where the nationwide revolt began.
Opposition activists say more than 15,000 people have been killed in the uprising, while the government says several thousand members of the security forces have died.
The host of the Paris meeting, French President Francois Hollande, said Assad's departure was "in the interest of Syria, of its neighbors and everybody who wants peace in the region".


Clic here to read the story from its source.