Brussels, 26/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 26 August, France's President François Hollande said that “everything will be played out this week” with regard to Syria. “There are several options on the table, which range from strengthening international sanctions to air strikes and arming the rebels. It is still too early to say categorically what will happen”, he said in an interview in the newspaper Le Parisien. “We cannot do nothing faced with the use of chemical weapons”, he added.
France's Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius promised an “appropriate and proportionate response”, “to the massacre”, with chemical weapons on 21 August (see EUROPE 10904). A response is reportedly imminent. “You will know in the coming days”, he told French radio station Europe I. Underlining that all the options are “open”, Fabius added that “the only option that we are not considering is doing nothing”. He stressed the “duty to respond”, stating that he is continuing to do everything possible to find a political solution in Syria.
In an interview on the BBC, UK Foreign Minister William Hague reiterated that other methods, diplomatic methods had been tried, and would continue to be used, but they had thus far failed. He suggested possibly acting without the backing of United Nations Security Council, where Russia and China are preventing any action being taken. Posing the question of whether it would be possible to respond to the use of chemical weapons without complete unity at the UN Security Council, and Hague stated that, in his view, it was possible. The UN Security Council is meeting on Tuesday 27 August. Hague stated that it is possible to take action for humanitarian reasons. Questioned about the possibility of military strikes this week, he replied that he refused to speculate on this publicly.
Germany's Foreign Affairs Minister Guido Westerwelle stated that if the use of chemical weapons is confirmed, “the international community must take action. Germany will then be among those who support the consequences”.
According to US Secretary for Defense Chuck Hagel, US President Barack Obama is considering all the various options on Syria. He added that, if action is taken, it will not be unilateral.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton is also in close contact with the European foreign affairs ministers and many international players, according to her spokesperson. The Political and Security Committee (PSC) is due to meet on Friday 30 August and Syria could be discussed. Furthermore, in the European district in Brussels, several dozen people demonstrated on 26 August to call for a response from the EU to the use of chemical weapons.
In the view of Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov, military intervention in Syria without the agreement of the Security Council, as suggested by the UK and France, would be “dangerous” and a very grave violation of international law. This would only aggravate the situation, in Lavrov's opinion. His counterpart from China, Wang Yi, stated that “all the parties must handle the issue of chemical weapons with caution, so as to avoid interference in (the attempts) to resolve the Syrian problem by a political regulation” (our translation throughout). In Wang Yi's opinion, the only solution is political and the top priority is the Geneva II Conference. American and Russian representatives are due to meet this week about the Geneva Conference. (CG/transl.fl)