Clinton speaks to Krishna and other world leaders on Syria

Washington, Aug 19: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reached out to her counterparts of more than a dozen countries including Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, as the Obama Administration stepped up its effort to increase pressure on the Syrian regime.

Besides Krishna, Clinton also reached out to her counterparts in Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Brazil, France, Germany, Britain, Norway, Canada, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference.

These calls were made over the past few weeks, she said.

"This has really been a preoccupation of this spring and summer period, and I think we see the results, but also in large measure because despite the growing pressure from the international community, they have been on the phone constantly. So despite this growing pressure, despite the calls around the region, the fact that the violence hasn't stopped has also encouraged more voices," she said.

Indian Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri, yesterday said that the Security Council will take "appropriate decisions" on Syria after it hears a briefing from the world body's human rights chief on the crisis in the strife-torn country.

India holds the rotating presidency of the 15-member UN Security Council this month.

Last week, an IBSA delegation comprising Additional Secretary for International Organisations at the Indian Foreign Ministry Dilip Sinha, Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa Ebrahim Ebrahim and Brazil's under secretary for Middle East affairs Paulo Cordeiro went to Damascus to discuss the current situation in Syria and the way forward.

PTI