Russia and Iran are undermining the Obama administration’s sanctions against Syria and helping the Assad regime to massacre civilians, according to Reuters.
Russia and Iran are helping Syria import fuel which it needs for heavy vehicles including army tanks, allowing Damascus to avoid the full impact of tightening Western sanctions imposed over its violent suppression of dissent.
Obama has refused to consider military action in the region, insisting that sanctions will be enough to bring peace to the beleaguered country where thousands of civilians have been killed by Syrian government forces.
Most former suppliers have dropped out for fear of violating measures designed to punish President Bashar al-Assad for his crackdown on opponents.
That has forced Syria to rely for transport and heating fuel on a narrowing pool of allies, including Iran, which faces its own tightening sanctions because of a nuclear program it says is peaceful but the West says aims to produce an atomic bomb. …
Russia has provided Syria with weapons and shielded Assad by blocking two U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning his government for the crackdown, in which the United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed since March 2011.
