Brussels, 06/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 6 May, the European Union called on all concerned to refrain from action likely to jeopardise the security of the region after Israel led air raids in Syria last weekend. “We are looking with great concern at the recent developments in and around Syria, that risk dragging the region into an increasingly violent and expanding conflict. We call on all concerned to refrain from actions that further jeopardise the already extremely fragile security situation in the region”, said Michael Mann, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. He said the EU condemned the violence in the region and wanted to avoid an escalation and a spillover effect. He reiterated the EU's calls to all parties to engage genuinely in finding a political solution.
EU concerned by possible use of chemical weapons. In reply to a question from EUROPE on the statements of Carla del Ponte, from the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, about the use of Sarin gas by some rebel groups, Mann said that “the EU is concerned by these purported findings”. Reiterating the EU's call for a swift agreement on a UN fact-finding mission to determine whether chemical weapons have indeed been used, he said the “the EU remains seriously concerned by the potential use and transfer of chemical weapons in Syria”. The EU reminds the “Syrian regime and all other parties that, in case of their use, those responsible will be held accountable”, he said.
EU condemns Bayda “massacre”.
Also on 4 May, Ashton condemned “in the strongest terms the brutal massacre by the Syrian armed forces and its militias” in the town of Bayda in the province of Banyas, in which some 60 people, including 14 children, were killed. “This heinous act shows the responsibility of the Syrian regime in instigating sectarian violence and escalating the conflict”, stated Ashton's spokesperson in a press release, reiterating the EU's firm position “that there will be no impunity for those responsible for such crimes”. (CG/transl.fl)