February 29th, 2012 by Oman Views

NATO to stay out of Syria even if U.N. mandate emerges

ANKARA (Reuters) – NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the Western alliance had no intention of intervening in Syria even in the event of a U.N. mandate to protect civilians, and urged Middle East countries to find a way to end the spiraling violence.

Rasmussen told Reuters Friday he also rejected the possibility of providing logistical support for proposed “humanitarian corridors” to ferry relief to towns and cities bearing the brunt of President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

“We have no intention whatsoever to intervene in Syria,” Rasmussen said in an interview, during a visit to mark the 60th anniversary of Turkey joining the alliance.

While NATO had acted under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians in Libya and had also received active support from several fellow Arab countries, neither condition had been fulfilled in Syria.

Asked if NATO’s stance would change if the United Nations provided a mandate, Rasmussen was doubtful.

“No, I don’t think so because Syria is also a different society, it is much more complicated ethnically, politically, religiously. That’s why I do believe that a regional solution should be found,” he said.

Thousands of civilians have been killed by Syrian security forces since an uprising against Assad’s rule began last March. The government says more than 2,000 soldiers and police have been killed by foreign-backed “terrorists.”

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By Simon Cameron-Moore and Tulay Karadeniz | Reuters

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January 23rd, 2012 by Oman Views

Russia says would be threatened by Iran military action

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Russia would regard any military intervention linked to Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its own security, Moscow’s departing ambassador to NATO warned on Friday.

“Iran is our neighbor,” Dmitry Rogozin told reporters in Brussels. “And if Iran is involved in any military action, it’s a direct threat to our security.”

Rogozin was speaking two days after the killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran by a hitman on a motorcycle.

Kremlin Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev, who is close to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said Israel was pushing the United States towards war with Iran, according to the Interfax news agency.

Russia, however, opposes a boycott of Iranian oil.

“We are definitely interested in the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Rogozin said on Friday. “But at the same time, we believe that any country has the right to have what it needs to feel comfortable, including Iran.”

Rogozin, often described as an anti-Western hawk, was appointed deputy prime minister in December, and will oversee Russia’s defense sector when he returns to Moscow.

The United States, the European Union and Japan are drawing up sanctions on Iran to try to force it to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program. Tehran says its program does not have military aims.

The United States on Thursday took punitive action against three oil companies dealing with Iranian oil.

EU foreign ministers are expected to agree on a ban on imports of Iranian crude oil on January 23 – though with a grace period to give European companies time to find alternative sources of crude.

Japan on Thursday pledged to take concrete action to cut its oil imports from Iran.

Reporting By Sebastian Moffett; Editing by Sophie Hares

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June 14th, 2011 by Oman Views

OTTAWA (AFP) – NATO air strikes have forced Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi into hiding, making it increasingly difficult for him to communicate with his troops, a Canadian general said Wednesday.

“We now realize that Kadhafi is forced to hide (from NATO air strikes) and so it’s become more and more difficult for him to communicate with his troops and to order attacks on civilians,” Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette told a briefing.

NATO began to turn up the heat last month with almost daily strikes in and around Tripoli, including an evening air raid on April 30 that the regime says killed one of Kadhafi’s sons and three grandchildren. NATO has not confirmed the deaths.

As alliance jets blasted Libya’s capital on Wednesday, Blanchette said NATO had flown 8,100 missions over Libya, including 3,100 air strikes since the start of the campaign to pressure Kadhafi to quit after 42 years in office.

Canadian fighter jets dropped 240 laser-guided bombs on the country, said the Canadian military’s spokesman.

“What you heard perhaps is that there has been increased pressure in Tripoli,” he said, disputing suggestions bombardments across Libya had also been ramped up.

Libyan rebels scored a major victory mid-May by taking control of the Misrata airport about 200 kilometers east of Tripoli, placing the strategic hub beyond the range of government guns after two months under siege.

“If you look at what happened in Misrata, for example, we’re convinced that we’ve positively influenced the situation, a large number of civilians have been protected… and the Kadhafi regime’s artillery batteries, which were bombarding the city daily, have been pushed back,” Blanchette said.

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