Clinton supports ceasefire in Syria
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E-mail Xinhua, October 25, 2012
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday voiced her support for a ceasefire in conflict-plagued Syria on the occasion of Muslim holiday Eid al- Adha.
The call for ceasefire came from UN-Arab League joint special representative Lakhdar Brahimi a day earlier following his four- day visit to Syria aiming to garner support for his proposal.
"We hope that the Eid in Syria would be calm if not happy," Brahimi said, adding he would return to Syria after the holiday and "if we find out that this calmness is actually achieved during the Eid and continues, we will try to build on it."
"We support his call for a ceasefire for the Eid al-Adha holiday so that Syrians could celebrate in peace," Clinton told reporters after meeting with her Brazilian counterpart Antonio Patriota at the State Department.
"We'd like to see the violence come to an end, there's no doubt about this, and we'd like to see a political transition take hold and begin," the top U.S. envoy added.
The Eid al-Adha festival, also known as Feast of the Sacrifice, is one of the holiest periods on the Muslim calendar. The four-day event begins on Oct. 26.
However, chances of truce are slim as government and opposition forces were engaged in heavy fighting in Damascus, Syria's capital, and in northern parts of the country, with foreign elements involved.
The 19-month conflict in Syria has spread to neighboring Turkey and Lebanon, with a deadly car bombing rocking Lebanese capital Beirut on Oct. 19, killing eight people including the intelligence chief of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces.
Opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad blamed his government for the assassination, as religious sects in Lebanon are divided between those supporting the president and those backing the opposition trying to oust him. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been asked to help in the investigation.
Clinton, who spoke with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati over the weekend, voiced her support for efforts to scramble up a new government in Lebanon.
"We don't want to see a vacuum of legitimate political authority that could then be taken advantage of by the Syrians or by others that could create even greater instability and violence, " she said. "So we call on all parties in Lebanon to support the process that President Suleiman is leading to choose a responsible, effective government that can address the threats that Syria faces and hold accountable those responsible for last week's bombing."
