Saudi FM : world must unite views on Syria

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister urged on Tuesday the international community to have a unified position over Syria after the war-torn country's opposition formed a coalition last month. "We see in forming the new Syrian coalition an important positive step towards uniting the opposition under one banner," Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters. "We hope to see a similar step towards uniting the positions and views of the international community in dealing with the Syrian issue," he added. The Syrian National Coalition was formed in Doha on November 11 following world pressures on the opposition to unite. The group says it is committed to building a provisional government composed of representatives of all ethnic and religious groups in conflict-ridden Syria, where rights groups say over 41,000 people have been killed since an uprising erupted in March 2011. The situation in Syria is "unfortunately deteriorating with more victims, displaced, and severe destruction in Syrian cities caused by the regime," the foreign minister said. "This makes the political transfer of power more urgent to preserve Syria's land and    people." Saudi Arabia has repeatedly slammed the deadly crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad's troops on opponents and openly called for arming rebels there. Since the start of the Syrian uprising, Russia and China have sided with Assad's regime and have repeatedly obstructed any UN Security Council action against Damascus. Prince Saud said that a "change" in Russia's stance towards Syria "will pave the way for resolving the Syrian crisis."