Clinton urges UN to back Arab League plan demanding Assad to step down

Washington, Feb 1 (ANI): US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged the United Nations Security Council to support an Arab League-backed plan that demands Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.

Clinton voiced confidence in the prospects for a political transition in Syria, but she suggested the death toll would rise considerably if the international community does not apply more pressure soon.

"We all know that change is coming to Syria. Despite its ruthless tactics, the Assad regime's reign of terror will end and the people of Syria will have a chance to chart their own destiny," Fox News quoted Clinton, as saying.

"The question for us is how many more innocent civilians will die before this country is able to move forward," she added.

Clinton, however, faced pushback at the United Nations from Russia.

While the Arab League-backed resolution calls for an end to violence and threatens 'further measures' if Assad does not step down, Russia described it as a path to civil war, or worse.

"We are going to witness a very bad situation, much, much, much broader than just Syria or Libya or Egypt or any other single country," Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said.

But Clinton said an attempt to liken the Syrian conflict to the war in Libya is a 'false analogy.'

She said Syria is unique, and that the Arab League proposal would provide a path for "political transition" while preserving the state's institutions.

"It deserves a chance to work. This will be hard, the results are far from certain, success is far from guaranteed. But the alternative, more of Assad's brutal rule, is no alternative at all," Clinton said. (ANI)