Russia’s foreign minister reported a “very productive visit” on Tuesday in Damascus with Syria’s top leaders after an emergency meeting on the violent 11-month-old political uprising in that country, where thousands of pro-government Syrians lined the capital’s streets waving Russian flags of welcome.
The visit came as new accounts of attacks by government forces on insurgent positions were reported to be convulsing other parts of Syria, notably the flashpoint city of Homs, and new expressions of anger toward Syria’s government and its Russian supporter flared among neighboring Arab states that have sought unsuccessfully to halt the hostilities.
All six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — announced that they were recalling their ambassadors from Syria. In a statement reported by news agencies, the council also said it had demanded that “all ambassadors of the Syrian regime in its lands leave immediately.”
Russia, along with China, vetoed an Arab-backed resolution at the United Nations on Saturday that called on President Bashar al-Assad to delegate some of his powers as part of a plan to defuse the crisis. Rebuffing harsh criticism from the resolution’s sponsors and Western critics of Mr. Assad, the Russians insisted that the resolution amounted to outside interference in Syria’s affairs.
At the same time, sensitive to the perception that Russia had given Mr. Assad a green light to violently crush his political opponents, the Kremlin dispatched its foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and Mikhail Fradkov, the head of Moscow’s foreign intelligence service, to Syria on Tuesday. The Russians said they had a proposal that could end the crisis but declined to divulge its substance.
“We have had a very productive visit with the leadership of Syria,” Mr. Lavrov said, according to Russia’s Ria Novosti news service. “We have confirmed our preparedness to facilitate a rapid end to the crisis based on the positions set out in the Arab League initiative. In particular, the president of Syria gave assurance that he is fully committed to an end to violence, no matter its source.”
(Photo of Syrian crowds cheering a motorcade believed to be carrying Russian envoys to a meeting with government officials in Damascus on Tuesday by Muzaffar Salman / AP via the New York Times)
