Surprising candour

by Mr007 Tue Nov 15, 2011 8:02 pm

His surprising candour comes after what he detailed as months of efforts by himself, and other leaders, to engage with an increasingly isolated Syrian president who still insists he is committed to reform.
A Syrian refugee child sits at an abandoned school in the Wady Khaled area, northern Lebanon Thousands of Syrians have fled across the border into northern Lebanon to escape the crackdown

The UN says Syria's eight-month long uprising has cost 3,500 lives, mainly protestors but also members of Syria's security forces involved in the violent crackdown.

There is been no official response from Damascus yet to the king's intervention.

A spokesperson for the Syrian embassy in Washington, Roua Sharbaji, said: "the Syrian president only derives his legitimacy from the Syrian people, and only the Syrian people are concerned with this matter".

In an interview with the BBC World Service, she said: "We do expect neighbouring Arab states to play a more constructive role to help Syria overcome this crisis."

The Jordanian monarch said he had spoken twice to his neighbour earlier this year, and also sent his chief of royal court in June.
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If Bashar has the interest of his country [at heart] he would step down”

End Quote King Abdullah of Jordan

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"It became very clear to me that they were not interested in dialogue with Jordan or a lot of other countries unfortunately," he remarked regretfully.

He said the Syrian regime still believed it was in a "fairly comfortable position and will continue to play groups off each other."

He said there still was not a "cohesive opposition" inside Syria because it would be "oppressed very quickly".

King Abdullah has also come under unprecedented pressure for political reform in his own country.

There are still no strong calls for an end to the Hashemite monarchy but opposition groups are calling for a stronger, more representative parliament and an elected prime minister.

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