For Syria Germany, Russia Back Political Solution Assad forces fire on protesters

Chancellor Angela Merkel says Germany and Russia are united in seeking a political solution to the escalating conflict in Syria.

Merkel spoke on June 1 in Berlin alongside visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is making his first foreign trip since being inaugurated for a third term as Russian president last month. 

Merkel urged the international community to ramp up efforts toward putting an end to the bloodshed in Syria.

We agreed that each country, and I said this on behalf of Germany, must do its utmost to ensure this [conflict in Syria] doesn't turn into a civil war  more people to suffer, Merkel said.

Her comments came amid renewed Western pressure on Russia over its opposition to tougher United Nations action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

Syria has been a longtime ally of Moscow and a major purchaser of Russian arms. 

Western-led calls for action against Syria intensified following last week's massacre in the Syrian town of Houla that left 108 people dead. Many of the victims were children and women who had been reportedly killed execution-style.

The killings sparked international outrage and prompted many nations to expel Syrian diplomats.

More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, are estimated to have been killed in violence since the uprising against Assad's regime began in March 2011.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on May 31 warned that Moscow's stance could contribute to a Syrian civil war.

"We agreed that each country, and I said this on behalf of Germany, must do its utmost to ensure this [conflict in Syria] doesn't turn into a civil war or cause more people to suffer," Merkel said.

Her comments came amid renewed Western pressure on Russia over its opposition to tougher United Nations action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

Syria has been a longtime ally of Moscow and a major purchaser of Russian arms. 

Western-led calls for action against Syria intensified following last week's massacre in the Syrian town of Houla that left 108 people dead. Many of the victims were children and women who had been reportedly killed execution-style.

The killings sparked international outrage and prompted many nations to expel Syrian diplomats.

More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, are estimated to have been killed in violence since the uprising against Assad's regime began in March 2011.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on May 31 warned that Moscow's stance could contribute to a Syrian civil war.

#No Russia Backing:-

At a news conference, Putin stressed that Moscow neither backed Assad in the conflict nor sold weapons that could be used in a civil conflict to the Syrian regime.

All those who claim that Russia supports any particular regime in this case President Assad's regime - are wrong. We have had good relations with Syria for many years but we do not support either side, Putin said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, however, on June1 said that Russia's stance on the conflict in Syria is widely viewed as supporting the Assad government.

Speaking in oslo, Clinton reiterated that the continued supply of arms from Russia has strengthened the Assad regime.

Newly elected French President Francois Hollande, who will host talks with Putin later on June 1 said he would seek to persuade Putin to back a new round of sanctions against the Syrian regime.

Hollande has not ruled out an international military intervention in Syria, but says the move must first be backed by the UN Security Council, of which Russia is a veto-holding permanent member.

Russian government spokesmen said earlier this week that Moscow is categorically opposed to foreign military intervention in Syria, and that Russia will not be swayed by pressure from Western states.

Putin's meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel also focused on Moscow's push for greater Russian access to European markets. Germany is Russia's single biggest EU trade partner.

The duo was expected to discuss energy issues, including progress on the North Stream pipeline, which is planned to pump Russian gas to Germany across the Baltic Sea.

Merkel on June 1 called Russia a "reliable energy supplier."

She said talks with the Russian president also touched on Iran's controversial nuclear activities, over which Russia has also opposed UN sanctions backed by the West.

#Death toll mounts in Syria crackdown:-

Syria regime forces opened fire on protesters killing 43 people across the country according to Local Coordination Committees.

Scores of protests broke out across Syria to condemn the May 25 Houla massacre.

At one protest in Duma, “regime forces opened fire on demonstrators. Everyone had to run away because there was nobody there to protect them,” activist Mohammed al-Dumani said via Skype.

The demonstrations were called to commemorate the 108 victims of a massacre last week, including 49 children, in the central town of Houla. Activists hailed the children as the “flares of victory” in the 15-month anti-regime uprising.

Large crowds in Aleppo, northern Syria, “chanted for the victory of the martyrs of Houla,” also reportedly coming under regime gunfire, another activist who declined to be named told AFP.

The U.N.-backed ceasefire that came into force on April 12 has failed to take hold. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, almost 2,300 people have been killed since the start of the truce.

Earlier on Friday, regime troops killed five people during raids in the town of Daraya outside the capital Damascus, the Britain-based monitoring group said.

Regime troops stormed the town -- a center for the armed opposition -- with tanks and fired shells at its western districts, the Observatory said.

Local activists said the five killed were civilians, adding that one of them was an activist and “regime forces burnt his body completely after they killed him.”

The Houla massacre, which Damascus blamed on “armed groups,” stoked an international outcry and the expulsion of top Syrian diplomats from several Western countries.

On Friday morning, in al-Esseily neighborhood of Damascus, protesters demanded that further action be taken against the Syrian authorities.

“O Arabs, we demand more than the expulsion of the (Syrian) ambassadors; we also demand the expulsion of the Russian and Chinese ambassadors” in Damascus, read one poster.

In the southern province of Daraa, a man was shot dead as he left a mosque in al-Sheikh Maskeen village, while heavy gunfire and explosions were reported in several towns.

In Homs province, a child was injured in regime shelling of Houla, according to the Observatory.