HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani has described the EU’s move to tighten sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime as ‘significant”, noting that what is more important is that the UN Security Council develops a “shared view” towards the Syrian crisis.

HE the Premier regretted the Security Council’s failure to enact UN Charter VII so far, in line with the Arab League’s recommendations at its last meeting.

“It is said that a meeting may be held in Geneva among the five permanent members of UN Security Council and some Arab and international organisations to discuss the situation in Syria. We hope that the plan of UN-Arab League joint envoy to Syria Kofi Annan will be endorsed under Chapter VII because we are aware of the extent of destruction and killing that took place in Syria, which requires faster and more serious move by the international community,” the Premier told Doha-based Al Jazeera channel.

Asked about the point of the wait and reliance on the UN and the Security Council to react to the daily killings in Syria if it is an Arab affair, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said that in a few days all the sides would know if the five permanent Security Council members would meet or not and whether there would be a draft resolution in the Security Council.

“The Arab League and the Arab countries must play a practical and an effective role to stop these massacres, but, unfortunately, this did not happen so far,” he said.

He noted that the Arab Ministerial Committee on Syria was monitoring the situation daily and felt sorry for what was happening, but added that there should be an “urgent action” to stop the violence.

“We, in the (Arab Ministerial Committee on Syria) and Qatar, support any move to stop the bloodbath in Syria.”

On fears that Syria would turn into a conflict zone among the regional countries and whether this fear was an obstacle to any Arab intervention to stop the bloodshed, the Prime Minister said: “I do not think that this is said to prevent interference; in fact what is happening now in Syria is a holocaust ... and I am surprised, alas, how can the regime believe that it governs Syria in this way?”

He added that it was time the regime started thinking to peacefully transfer the political authority to avoid any scenario that might affect both the region and Syria.

‘Fierce clashes’ near Damascus

Opposition forces and Syrian army units engaged in deadly combat around elite Republican Guard posts in the suburbs of Damascus yesterday, as 116 people were killed across the country, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll consisted of 68 civilians, 41 soldiers and seven rebels. Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad has admitted that Syria is in a state of war.