US warns Assad backers on ‘wrong side of history’

The White House Wednesday warned Russia and other backers of Syria they were on the wrong side of history, and said President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal actions would be remembered forever.

“We are in regular consultations with the Russians and others about what we are seeing happening in Syria and the need to put further pressure on the Assad regime,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

“I would simply say that it is our belief, and it’s the belief that we express in these conversations, that supporting the Assad regime is placing oneself or one’s nation on the wrong side of history.”

“Assad will be remembered forever for what he did this past weekend and what he has done for the past 15 months,” Carney said referring to the Houla massacre and the deaths of around 13,000 Syrians in prolonged unrest.

Russia is seen as the key player in diplomatic efforts to halt Syria’s slide into civil war, but opposes foreign military action and has blocked the imposition of UN sanctions against its ally in the Security Council.

Moscow did however join China and Western members of the council to condemn the Assad government for using artillery in Houla at the weekend in a massacre in which least 108 people, many of them children, were killed and 300 injured.

Washington is believed to be trying to persuade Moscow to sign up for a plan to ease Assad from power in a manner similar to that used to end president Ali Abdullah Saleh strongman rule in Yemen this year.

Such a solution may ease Russian fears of losing one of its few remaining allies in the Middle East, as it may allow other remnants of the ruling Alawite regime to retain power.

President Barack Obama is expected to discuss such a solution when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Mexico next month.