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Hillary Clinton Syria

February 24, 2012 by · Comments Off on Hillary Clinton Syria 

Hillary Clinton Syria, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Syrian regime will have “more blood on its hands” if it doesn’t immediately comply with ceasefire demands being issued by a group of 70 Western and Arab nations.

In opening remarks to an international conference of the Friends of Syria group, Ms Clinton said the regime of President Bashar Assad has “ignored every warning, squandered every opportunity and broken every agreement”.

The Friends of Syria are demanding an immediate ceasefire so humanitarian aid can be delivered to Syrians who have suffered under a yearlong assault, especially those in the city of Homs, which has been under bombardment for three weeks.

“If the Assad regime refuses to allow this life-saving aid to reach civilians, it will have ever-more blood on its hands,” Ms Clinton said, noting the same was true of nations like Russia and China, which are supporting Assad.

Her warnign came after Red Cross aid workers entered a besieged neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Homs and are negotiating with authorities and rebels to evacuate all wounded, including two Western journalists.

The effort to evacuate the reporters – who were injured in a government attack that killed American war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik – is part of a wider international push to bring aid to people in the areas hardest hit by Syria’s efforts to quash the uprising against Assad’s rule.

Hicham Hassan of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday that the ICRC and its local Syrian branch have been working in the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs since Friday afternoon.

The team is “negotiating with both Syrian authorities and opposition in an attempt to evacuate all persons in need of assistance with no exception,” he said, meaning local residents and foreign journalists.

French journalists Edith Bouvier and William Daniels have asked for help leaving the embattled city after Bouvier was wounded in shelling Wednesday that killed Colvin and Ochlik. British photographer Paul Conroy also was wounded in the attack.

But international efforts to end the crisis are also trying to help civilians trapped in embattled areas.

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