SYRIA: Italy cites “humanitarian truce” as essential. EU, new sanctions package approved

Minister Giulio Terzi expressed the “need to find a way to call a humanitarian truce”, in Syria. Participating in the Council of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels, which approved a new package of sanctions against the Syrian regime, the minister asserted that the Red Cross “is not even able to get in” to Homs. The moment is extremely critical. But after the conference in Tunis, la coalition of countries supporting the Arab League’s action plan got a major boost, and therefore, the minister underscored, there is a general condition “that is moving increasingly in the direction of Assad stepping down, but everything is still up in the air”. “Italy”, Terzi added, “agrees with the European sanctions against Syria because, “there is no other way except a military intervention, which no one wants for the moment”. High Representative Catherine Ashton also spoke of the humanitarian truce, launching an appeal to the UN Security Council: “everyone must assume responsibility, if we want Assad to step down we must be united”. The High Representative also said that the EU “fully supports” the mission of Kofi Annan and Arab League efforts to seek an end to the conflict in Syria.