| Local Editor | ||||
| Gulf States and the European Union called on Sunday for political settlement for the Syrian crisis, vowing to exert efforts to help convene a peace conference over the conflict. The one-day ministerial meeting in Bahrain attended by EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton and the foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council also called on Iran to play "a constructive role" in the international efforts to suppress the violence.  The FMs “reiterated the utmost urgency of finding a political settlement of the Syrian conflict,” said a statement issued at the end of the meeting. They also pledged to “spare no effort in helping to create the appropriate conditions for a successful convening of the peace conference on Syria,” AFP news agency reported. Russia and the United States have been striving to hold the conference in Geneva. The Gulf Cooperation Council and the condemned what they called Hezbollah’s its role “in military operations in Syria.” The statement, however, made no mention of demands by Syria's armed opposition for weapons to fight Syrian government, a request that has also the backing of GCC powerbrokers Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Ashton told the gathering "we need to work harder together to find the political solution that will bring peace" to Syria and expressed concern about a spillover of the war into neighboring Lebanon and Iraq. "We are extremely concerned about the plight of the people and about rising sectarian conflicts in Lebanon and Iraq, and we want to do our utmost to try and defuse tension," she said. | ||||
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GCC, EU Call for Political Settlement in Syria
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