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Hillary Rodham Clinton calls Syrian defections “promising”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday hailed an accelerating wave of defections in President Bashar Assad’s inner circle as the United States and its international allies pleaded once again for global sanctions against the Syrian regime.
Frustrated by the slow pace of diplomacy, Clinton lambasted Russia and China for standing in the way.
Speaking after a 100-nation conference in Paris, Clinton said Syria’s “regime insiders and the military establishment are starting to vote with their feet” by abandoning the four-decade Assad dynasty. She spoke after Western officials reported top Assad aide aide Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas had left the country.
“We think that is a very promising development,” Clinton told reporters.
Tlas’ departure from Syria provided welcome news for the U.S. and its European and Arab partners after another gathering of the “Friends of Syria” group that demonstrated the international community’s continued inability to end 16 months of bloodshed that activists say has killed about 14,000 people. The Associated Press
