Ansamed

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, MAY 30 - Syrian ambassadors to Western countries have been expelled after the atro++++cious Houla massacre - in which over 100 died including many children - as an action of protest against the Syrian regime under Bashar Al Assad. In a meeting with President Assad in Damascus, UN special envoy Kofi Annan forcefully demanded that ''courageous steps be taken - not tomorrow but immediately - in the implementation of the plan'' for peace. Annan warned that ''this means that all government and pro-government militias must halt all military operations.'' And so, international pressure on Assad's regime has moved up a notch - to the point that White House spokesman Jay Carney has even said that the United States ''will continue to work with our allies to isolate Assad''. Carney also noted that the military option is still a possibility, even though at the moment it is not the right direction to take. The massacre of children, a number of observers have noted, may very well end up being the ''turning point'' in the Syrian crisis. Yesterday many European countries (including Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Great Britain) decided to expel in a coordinated manner Syrian diplomatic representatives, calling them ''personae non gratae''. The same was done by the United States, Canada and Australia. In a statement released by Washington, US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland noted that the Syrian charge d'affaires (the ambassador had already been summoned to Damascus for consultations) had 72 hours to leave the United States. At the same time French president Francois Hollande announced the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador (who will not actually be leaving the country, since he is also UNESCO ambassador) and the organisation of the third conference of the Friends of the Syrian People in early July in Paris. In agreement with the White House, even Hollande did not rule out military intervention against Assad's regime. ''So long as it is done in compliance with international law and with the backing of the UN Security Council,'' he noted. Assad ''is the assassin of his people. He must step down,'' said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, interviewed by the daily paper Le Monde. Italy's Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi instead wrote on Twitter that ''after the horror of Houla'', the expelling of Syrian ambassadors sends a ''strong and unequivocal message to the Syrian regime, that the violence must cease.'' ''One thing is clear, and not only from the Houla massacre: Syria has no future with Assad. One must make way for peaceful change,'' said German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. His Spanish counterpart, José Manuel García-Margallo, instead laid blame on the ''unacceptable repression'' by the Syrian regime, and once again urged Damascus to ''take advantage of the opportunity offered by the Annan plan.'' On a harshly-worded and important speech, Turkey's conservative Islamic Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Assad that the international community's patience ''has limits''. In speaking before his AKP party's parliamentary group, Erdogan spoke out against the ''inhuman massacre'' of Houla, which the UN yesterday blamed on pro-Assad militias. The Turkish prime minister denounced the regime's ''cruelty'', warning that ''there is a limit to patience and, thank God, also the patience of the UN Security Council''. Meanwhile, the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition movement against the Syrian regime, welcomed the expelling of diplomats, asking the Security Council to authorise the use of force against the regime. The latter is for the time being unable to be put into action due to vetoes by China and Russia, Damascus's allies. Most Western countries had already closed their diplomatic offices in Damascus during the repression in Homs by Syrian pro-government troops. In addition to the Houla massacre - with survivor statements gathered by the UN reporting true 'summary executions' - repression by the Syrian regime continues to reap victims on a daily basis despite the entering into force (theoretically) on April 12 of the 'ceasefire' which was part of the Annan plan.

Over the past 14 months the violence has caused the death of over 13,000 people, including 1,800 in April, according to the figures released by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

(ANSAmed).