Syria brotherhood: Russia 'an excuse' for inaction

Russia's U.N. Security Council veto is "just an excuse" for world powers not to intervene in Syria, but the regime is going to fall without their help, the chief of Syria's Muslim Brotherhood told AFP Thursday. "Russia is just an excuse for the rest of the great powers not to topple (Syrian President Bashar Assad's) regime," said Mohammed Riyad al-Shaqfa, complaining of an international unwillingness to "get sucked into" the conflict in Syria. The exiled chief of the hardline opposition group was referring to divisions in the Security Council, where permanent members Russia and China have so far vetoed three resolutions on Syria. Western countries have blamed Russia, a long-time ally of Assad, for blocking efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis. Shaqfa repeated calls on the international community to provide the Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles to fend off air attacks and with long-range missiles to use against tanks. "The Syrian people will still prevail without those," he said, but added: "Support from the international community would make Assad's exit much quicker, maybe even under a month, and many lives would be spared in the meantime." His comments came a day after more than 305 people were killed across Syria, marking the bloodiest day of the 18-month revolt, which has so far claimed 30,000 lives, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory said that 199 of Wednesday's dead were civilians. The casualty reports came as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged action from the "paralyzed" Security Council in New York. Her appeal came amid mounting attempts by Western governments to press Russia and China to ease their opposition to U.N. action against the Assad regime. Syria's Muslim Brotherhood claims no direct links to the main Islamist movement that was established in 1928 in Egypt. They were banned in 1963 in Syria, and many members fled Syria after a failed insurgency in 1980, when the regime cracked down on the organization.