France convinced of "new Arab Spring victory" in Syria

Despite a resumption of repression and a security crackdown, France said on Wednesday it was "convinced" that this violence will lead nowhere and there will be "a new victory for the people of the Arab Spring" in Syria Foreign Ministry statements recalled the efforts of France to push for a strong UN Resolution in the Security Council and reiterated the statements of Foreign Minister Alain Juppe who attended Tuesday's session in New York. "It is because it refuses the fatality of failure that France is mobilised in the UN Security Council to get a stop to the violence," spokesman Bernard Valero said in a Foreign Ministry briefing. "All our effort is being brought today in New York," he added in reference to the ongoing Security Council discussions and an expected vote on the Syria question. While the majority of the 15 Security Council nations now support a resolution on Syria, after the intervention by senior Arab League officials Tuesday, Russia and China, backed by India and South Africa are still not behind a Moroccan-sponsored resolution that would support the Arab peace plan. Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Al-Araby and current president Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Al-Thani of Qatar on Tuesday both urged the Council to adopt a resolution that would help bring an end to the bloody conflict that has cost an estimated 6,000 lives since last March. "We are in constant consultation with our partners in the Arab League to support them in their initiatives in order to find a solution to the crisis in Syria," the French spokesman indicated, adding that Paris was also "maintaining a regular dialogue with the Syrian opposition" to encourage unity and the establishment of a democratic platform. "France is convinced that the repression carried out by the Damascus regime is going nowhere and the popular mobilisation in Syria will lead to a new victory for the people of the Arab Spring," Valero remarked. He said that the Syrian people were showing "legitimate anger" at the increased repression, which showed the "criminal" direction taken by the government, which is "deaf to appeals" despite the spectre of a "possible civil war." Valero accused Syrian security forces of "the worst atrocities, including against children," and he praised "the courageous step by the Arab League to put the members of the Security Council face-to-face with their responsibilities."