Updated August 12, 2012 17:12:35
ABC NEWS
Photo: Hillary Clinton wants to ramp up pressure on Syria from both inside and outside the regime. (AFP: Jacky Naegelen)
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has praised Turkey for its response to the Syrian conflict and says the two countries will be working together to coordinate efforts to support Syrian rebels.
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Map: Turkey
After a meeting with her Turkish counterpart in Istanbul, Ms Clinton said the two countries would establish a working group to coordinate military and political responses to the Syrian conflict.
"As we work to help the opposition inside Syria we are continuing to increase pressure from outside," she said.
Ms Clinton said the two countries should develop detailed operational planning on ways to assist the rebels fighting to topple president Bashar al-Assad.
But she said other measures – such as imposing a no-fly zone over rebel-held territory – needed greater in-depth analysis.
"Our intelligence services, our military have very important responsibilities and roles to play so we are going to be setting up a working group to do exactly that," she said.
"It is one thing to talk about all kinds of potential actions, but you cannot make reasoned decisions without doing intense analysis and operational planning."
She said plans needed to be made in case the Syrian regime uses chemical weapons to attack its opponents, and announced an additional $US5 million of aid to help the more than 50,000 Syrian refugees within Turkey.
"We have gone through this morning all kinds of issues, both before the inevitable fall of Assad and after, but we have to be very careful," she said.
"Our goal is to hasten the end of the bloodshed and the Assad regime."
Call for 'flexible UN presence'
Meanwhile, in a letter to the 15 members of the UN security council, secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has called for a "flexible UN presence in Syria" after the observer mission ends, saying the world body has a duty to assist the crisis-beset Syrian people.
"A continued UN presence in Syria that goes beyond our important humanitarian work would allow systematic and meaningful engagement with the Syrian stakeholders, inside the country," the UN chief said in a letter dated Friday to the 15 members of the UN Security Council.
"Furthermore, a flexible UN presence in Syria would provide the UN impartial means to assess the situation on the ground.
"The UN cannot discontinue its support" while the crisis continues, he emphasized. "Rather, we must adapt to the situation while pursuing our efforts."
The observer mission mandate is set to expire August 19, after the council voted last month to extend it for a "final" 30 days.
At the time, the council agreed that any further extensions would be considered only if there was "very specific and sustainable progress on the level of violence, which should subside substantially, and on the use of heavy weapons."
The mission - originally 300 military observers and now reduced by half - was deployed in April to oversee a peace plan, which should have begun with a ceasefire that never took hold.
In mid-June, the observers suspended patrols as fighting intensified.
The Security Council is scheduled to debate the future of the UN mission on Thursday, but so far there is little consensus.
While the United States is sceptical about prolonging the mandate yet again, Syrian ally Russia is calling for an extension, saying the observers must continue monitoring the military situation.
In Syria itself, activists say 11 people have been killed in fighting in the capital, Damascus, while government forces continue to shell areas of city of Aleppo.
ABC/wires
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, turkey, syrian-arab-republic, united-states
First posted August 12, 2012 10:51:28
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