UN chief calls for arms embargo on Syria

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today appealed to the powerful Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Syria, stressing that it is "essential" to stem the flow of arms pouring into the war-torn country.
Ban termed as "irresponsible" the continued military support by foreign powers to groups in Syria that are committing "atrocities and flagrantly violating international principles of human rights".
In a strong rebuke to the world's indifference to the bloodshed in Syria, Ban said in his address to the Asia Society here today that the Syrian government's indiscriminate use of barrel bombs, missiles and artillery, mortar attacks by the opposition forces and terrorist tactics by extremists, highlight the urgent need to stop the killing and destruction.

"It is essential to stem the flow of arms pouring into the country. It is irresponsible for foreign powers and groups to give continued military support to parties in Syria that are committing atrocities and flagrantly violating international principles of human rights and international law.
"I urge the Security Council to impose an arms embargo. If divisions in the Council continue to prevent such a step, I urge countries to do so individually whatever they can to impose this arms embargo.
"Syria's neighbours should enforce a firm prohibition on the use of their land borders and airspace for arms flows and smuggling into Syria," Ban said in his impassioned address.

He noted that while an arms embargo "at this time" would risk freezing an imbalance in place, given the extent and capacity of the Syrian Government's weaponry, the "Syrian war cannot be won by militarily means.

"Ban called for the parties in the Syrian conflict to "sit across from each other again at the negotiating table" adding that increasing numbers of Syrians are taking matters into their own hands and negotiating agreements to stop the fighting in their own neighbourhoods.
Spotlighting the worsening of the already horrifying war in Syria, "which continues to bleed beyond its borders," Ban rejected the notion that a military solution is the only way to end the crisis and offered a "principled and integrated" approach that would end the violence, jumpstart political talks and sow the seeds for a better future for Syria.

"We must act. All the values for which we stand, and all the reasons for which the United Nation exist are at stake, here and now, across the devastated landscape that is Syria today," Ban said urging the international community not to abandon the people of Syria and the region to "never-ending waves of cruelty and crisis.
Expressing disappointment at the "cold calculation that seems to be taking hold" - that little can be done except to arm the parties and watch the conflict rage, the UN chief painted a grim picture of what such indifference and cynicism has wrought since the conflict broke out in 2011, noting that the death toll may now be well over 150,000.

The UN had stopped releasing figures because it became "impossible to count all the bodies" - half the country's population has been displaced and the makeshift prisons continue to swell with detainees, he said.