Sunday, March 2, 2014

Live: Breaking news, traffic and travel across Teesside


The Evening Gazette's live breaking news blog brings you regular updates, pictures, video, tweets and comments covering the latest Teesside and North Yorkshire traffic, travel, weather, crime and council news for today, Monday 3 March, 2014.


You can contribute to the live blog by posting your comment below, and you can also tweet us @EveningGazette to share breaking news stories, pictures and opinions.


Our Teesside breaking news live blog begins at 07:00am every weekday and is updated throughout the day and into the evening.




7.00



Good morning Teesside! Reporter Toni Guillot kicking off the live blog for Monday March 3, 2014.


As always, if you're out and about and see something, get in touch and let us know - comment on the live blog, tweet us @EveningGazette or call me on 01642 234615.


Thanks for joining us whether you're on your way to work, just getting in, or simply an early bird, I hope you have a lovely day.




Ben Shapiro Crashes UCLA Divestment from Israel Hearing — On The Glazov Gang


shap This week’s special editon of The Glazov Gang was joined by Ben Shapiro, the Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org, Elisha Krauss, Morning Co-Host at KRLA AM 870 The Answer and a staff writer at TruthRevolt.org, and Jeremy Boreing, the Managing Editor of TruthRevolt.org,


The Gang gathered to discuss how Ben recently crashed the UCLA Divestment from Israel Hearing to blast both the student sponsors and those considering the anti-Semitic measure. The panel also discussed How Conservatives Can Best Fight Political War, Pierce Morgan’s Ratings Tanked After Being Eviscerated By Shapiro, UN Ambassador Samantha Power’s Jew-Hatred, and much, much more.


Watch the two-part series below:


Part I:


Part II:


To watch previous Glazov Gang episodes, Click here .


To sign up for The Glazov Gang : Click here .



The evacuation of Homs: Humanitarianism or ethnic cleansing?


Krak des Chevaliers


During the now dead and buried Geneva peace talks, the Syrian opposition and government reached a deal allowing evacuation of the 3,500 residents of the Old City of Homs, which has been under siege and bombardment for nearly 600 days. The deal was presented as a breakthrough in the Syrian conflict. Its terms allowed food to be brought in to the starving people of the Old City and residents to leave if they wish. Since then 1,400 residents, malnourished, many elderly, and some wounded, have left the Old City. However, what happened after the agreement is a testament to the regime’s bad faith.


Homs is on the faultline of the Syrian conflict. It was the first major Syrian city to see widespread protests against Bashar al-Assad in 2011, but it also contains Alawi-majority districts which are fiercely loyal to the regime. After the agreement was signed pro-regime Facebook pages began saying that food would not be allowed to reach the “terrorists” in the old city. A UN convoy carrying food aid was first blocked by residents of the pro-government districts and then fired on by the National Defence Forces, a pro-regime militia, killing several people. Hundreds of men aged 15 to 55 were detained by government forces – and the fate of many of them remains unknown. There are fears that this deal may be the latest chapter in an alleged regime campaign to change the demographic balance of the city and its surrounding areas. Before 2011 Homs had a Sunni majority.


Once a thriving city of approximately 700,000, it is today a broken ruin. The regime loyalist Alawi-majority districts are today the only areas of the city where normal life continues. Regime bombs have fallen relentlessly every day on the rest of the city, destroying apartment buildings, shops, and historic mosques. Entire districts, such as Khalidiya, Baba Amr, Jourat al Shiah, Bayada and Warsha have been emptied of their inhabitants and completely destroyed. Many of Homs’s residents have fled from the centre of the city to the outer suburbs, such as Wa’r, which has taken in at least 200,000 refugees and is completely surrounded by the regime.


Others are now outside the city or outside the country. In the Old City, not a single building remains intact and the siege on the inhabitants was complete and total before the agreement. No food was allowed to enter – starvation and deaths from treatable injuries were the norm. Residents had to bring in their food from under the sewers to avoid starvation. The Old City lost most of its population before the latest agreement and now only a few hundred more will remain


West of Homs lie the Alawi majority coastal mountains, where President Bashar al-Assad’s family come from. There are Sunni towns and villages on the road from the mountains to Homs which have been under constant attack from government forces, away from the eyes of the world. Qalat al-Hosn, a community of 9,000 people located strategically at the foot of the medieval Crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers, has been under siege for more than a year. Khaled al Hosne, an activist I spoke to, says that its inhabitants now exist on a diet of weeds and grass and people have already starved to death.


The town is located in the middle of a mixed Alawi and Christian area and is bombarded daily with heavy artillery, surface to surface missiles, barrel bombs, and helicopter gunships. Pro-government Facebook pages, such as Wadi al-Nasara News and Tal Kalakh National News give detailed daily updates on its bombardment, and activists report that over the past month more than 150 people have been killed and hundreds more have been injured. The ancient castle, a UNESCO world heritage site, has itself been deliberately targeted, with no media coverage in the West. There is a real danger that the inhabitants of Qalat al-Hosn will be massacred if their town is overrun by pro-government militia.


Threats to do this have already been made. Neighbouring Sunni towns have received the same and worse treatment, and the regime’s worst massacres, such as those in Tremseh, Houla, Qubair, and Banias, have taken place in Sunni towns in or near Alawi areas. There is a great deal of evidence that the regime is carrying out sectarian cleansing. The recent evacuation of civilians from Homs, supervised by the United Nations, plays right into the regime’s hands.


It is the latest phase of the displacement of the people of Homs and the surrounding areas. The regime publicly disavows sectarianism, but sectarian militias from Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon have entered the country to fight alongside it and the pattern of the regime’s attacks speaks for itself. In the 1960s Alawi army officers discussed plans for a separate state with Homs as its capital


For More: http://ift.tt/1hWf1tZ


Source: MEMO



Israeli forces shell home in Birzeit


Israeli forces shell home in Birzeit


On Friday, thousands of mourners attended the funeral procession of 26 year old Mu’atazz Washaha, who had been killed the previous morning following a dawn stand-off with Israeli soldiers. Israeli forces were reportedly trying to arrest Mu’atazz, an activist with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.


After refusing to hand himself over, Israeli soldiers bulldozed the garden and wall of his property in the West Bank village of Birzeit, just outside Ramallah, and then targeted the house with artillery shells, according to reports.


Villagers claim the victim was injured in the head during the shelling, after which he crawled into his bed. They state that Mu’atazz, who reportedly had not yet succumbed to the wounds, was then shot in the chest 3-4 times after Israeli soldiers stormed the house.


During the dawn raid, his brother, Ramiz Washaha, as well as Fadi Sedqi and Samir al-Qaisi were arrested. Earlier reports suggested Israeli forces were targeting another brother, Thaer.


The procession started with a military march in front of the Palestine Medical Complex before he was taken to his uncle’s home, which lies next to Muatazz’s property. On the morning of the funeral, people began to arrive at the home to wait for the arrival of the body, with the burnt out remains of the Birzeit house visible to all those who came to pay their respects.


After the body was laid to rest at the local mosque, youth marched to confront Israeli forces at the Atara checkpoint, north of Birzeit. 5 people were reportedly shot with live ammunition and dozens required medical attention following the excessive amount of tear gas which rained on the protesters.


An Israeli army spokeswoman said that Israeli forces raided Birzeit to arrest a man suspected of “terror activity.”


“After the suspect was called to turn himself in, he barricaded himself inside his house, effectively resisting arrest. Under the premise that he had weapons in his possession, the forces used different means to complete the arrest, including live fire.”


One Birzeit resident said, “When you use this kind of weapon your aim is to kill, not to arrest.”


The Palestinian Authority condemned the killing in a statement, “The assassination of martyr Washaha represents a new violation of human rights. Occupation forces deliberately killed martyr Washaha.”


The PFLP and its military wing Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said that the “response is undoubtedly coming,” vowing to “continue to resist until the occupation is removed from all Palestinian soil.”


His death came as Amnesty International released a report criticizing Israel’s killing of dozens of Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank over the past three years, claiming their actions may amount to war crimes.


Report by Jessica Purkiss. Images by Mark Purkiss


Source: Al Jazeera



Boro fan avoids matchday banning order after ripping up pages from Koran

2 Mar 2014 12:05

A Boro fan who ripped up pages torn from a copy of the Koran at an away game has avoided a matchday banning order




Mark Stephenson outside Birmingham Magistrates' Court


A Boro fan who ripped up pages torn from a copy of the Koran at an away game has avoided a matchday banning order.


Season ticket holder Mark Stephenson, who admitted a charge of threatening behaviour, was fined £235 by magistrates, who heard that the 25-year-old was “shocked and appalled” at his own actions.


Magistrates opted not to impose a football banning order on Stephenson, who admitted causing racial or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.


Stephenson, of Napoleon Drive, Shrewsbury, committed the religiously-aggravated public order offence last December during Middlesbrough’s Sky Bet Championship fixture at Birmingham City on Saturday, December 7 last year.


The £22,000-a-year purchasing manager was among a group of around 20 visiting supporters handed pages of the Koran by a woman who took the Islamic holy book out of her handbag during the match, which ended in a 2-2 draw.


Prosecutor Jonathan Purser told Birmingham Magistrates’ Court that Stephenson, who has no previous convictions or cautions, was seen with a lighter, apparently pretending to set fire to some of the pages.


The “through and through” fan, who was ordered to pay £105 in costs and a £23 victim surcharge, also told a steward who asked what the book was: “It’s the Muslim bible, we hate Muslims.” Other fans were shouting and chanting at the time of the offence, and the words “Koran, Muslims and burning” were overheard by a steward.


Defence solicitor Ash Mistry told magistrates that his client, who also follows England abroad, had been drinking alcohol before the match and at half-time, and had very little recollection of his “inflammatory” actions.


The lawyer told the court: “He is no way racist and he holds no racist views towards Muslims.”


Stephenson was deeply remorseful for what was an isolated incident, Mr Mistry submitted.


Passing sentence, chairman of the bench Ronald Healy said: “The incidents that we have had described to us are extremely unsavoury and extremely regrettable. It’s lucky in some respects that nothing occurred as a result of your actions.”



Obama calls on Putin to pull Russian troops from restive Ukraine region



Russia and the United States remain on a collision course over the restive Ukrainian region with Washington calling on Moscow to pull its troops in Crimea back to their bases.



US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the escalating crisis on telephone for 90 minutes on Saturday.



According to a statement issued by the White House, Obama expressed “his deep concern over Russia’s clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity” and called on Putin to order withdrawal of Russian forces from Crimea back to their bases.


The US president also threatened that Moscow’s refusal would “impact Russia’s standing in the international community.”


Obama warned that Moscow’s action in the Black Sea region could lead to more political and economic isolation for Russia.


Putin, however, said that his country reserves the right to protect Russian interests and ethnic Russians in Ukraine.


“In the case of any further spread of violence to Eastern Ukraine and Crimea,” a statement issued by Putin’s office said, “Russia retains the right to protect its interests and the Russian-speaking population of those areas.”


Earlier on Saturday, the Russian parliament approved Putin’s request to deploy troops into Crimea.


Putin said that the mission is necessary to protect ethnic Russians and the military base in Crimea known as the Black Sea Fleet.


The Russian president has yet to decide on the troop deployment, but reports emerging from the region show two Russian anti-submarine warships have appeared off the Ukraine coast.


Meanwhile, US Senator Bob Corker called for immediate sanctions against Russia for any potential military intervention in Ukraine.


“Vladimir Putin is seizing a neighboring territory — again — so President Obama must lead a meaningful, unified response,” Corker said in a statement.


The Ukrainian army was put on a combat alert as the country’s acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said on Saturday that any Russia’s military intervention will lead to a war in the crisis-hit country.


GJH/AGB



Top Teesside restaurateur Eugene McCoy made bankrupt

2 Mar 2014 08:03

Award-winning Eugene McCoy was declared bankrupt at Middlesbrough County Court less than a year after he resigned from his interests in the famous Cleveland Tontine, near Stokesley




Eugene McCoy


One of the North East’s top restaurateurs has gone bust.


Award-winning Eugene McCoy was declared bankrupt at Middlesbrough County Court less than a year after he resigned from his interests in the famous Cleveland Tontine, near Stokesley.


The 63-year-old was named in an Insolvency Notice following the hearing. The petition, brought by himself rather than creditors, was filed on February 19.


His current address was given as the Crathorne Arms near Yarm and his former address was given as the Tontine.


The restaurateur said he was not prepared to discuss the bankruptcy order issued under his full name Eugene Martin Joseph McCoy or his future plans.


He said: “It is not something I want to talk about.”


Eugene McCoy has been part of the North East’s eating scene for many years and has been associated with various establishments.


In 2009 his McCoys at the Tontine was named as North East Restaurant of the Year run in association with the Gourmet Society.


The establishment also won the Egon Ronay Award for best restaurant and has a national reputation for good food.


He first opened the Cleveland Tontine in 1976 and quickly established himself as a force in the restaurant trade.


He has opened a number of establishments over the years including the Rooftop Restaurant at the Baltic, Gateshead, and McCoys Brassierie in Newcastle.


He and his brothers were also consulted by rail company GNER on their a la carte restaurant service.


At the time of winning the North East Restaurant of the Year, he put the success of the Tontine down to knowing his customers.


He said: “We have tried to keep the same good food, the same atmosphere, the same staff and the same fantastic customers.”


The Tontine has recently reopened following a major refurbishment.


The establishment said Mr McCoy was no longer associated with it and referred enquiries to the Crathorne Arms.



The coup in Ukraine: Obama’s dumbest plan yet



“Washington and Brussels … used a Nazi coup, carried out by insurgents, terrorists and politicians of Euromaidan to serve the geopolitical interests of the West.” — Natalia Vitrenko, The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine



The United States helped defeat Nazism in World War 2. Obama helped bring it back.


As you probably know by now, Obama and Co. have ousted Ukraine’s democratically-elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, with the help of ultra-right, paramilitary, neo-Nazi gangs who seized and burned government offices, killed riot police, and spread mayhem and terror across the country. These are America’s new allies in the Great Game, the grand plan to “pivot to Asia” by pushing further eastward, toppling peaceful governments, securing vital pipeline corridors, accessing scarce oil and natural gas reserves and dismantling the Russian Federation consistent with the strategy proposed by geopolitical mastermind, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski’s magnum opus – “The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and it’s Geostrategic Imperatives” has become the Mein Kampf for aspiring Western imperialists. It provides the basic blueprint for establishing US military-political-economic hegemony in the century’s most promising and prosperous region, Asia. In an article in Foreign Affairs Brzezinski laid out his ideas about neutralizing Russia by splitting the country into smaller parts, thus, allowing the US to maintain its dominant role in the region without threat of challenge or interference. Here’s an excerpt from the article:


“Given (Russia’s) size and diversity, a decentralized political system and free-market economics would be most likely to unleash the creative potential of the Russian people and Russia’s vast natural resources. A loosely confederated Russia — composed of a European Russia, a Siberian Republic, and a Far Eastern Republic — would also find it easier to cultivate closer economic relations with its neighbors. Each of the confederated entitles would be able to tap its local creative potential, stifled for centuries by Moscow’s heavy bureaucratic hand. In turn, a decentralized Russia would be less susceptible to imperial mobilization.” (Zbigniew Brzezinski, “A Geostrategy for Eurasia”)


Moscow is keenly aware of Washington’s divide and conquer strategy, but has downplayed the issue in order to avoid a confrontation. The US-backed coup in Ukraine means that that option is no longer feasible. Russia will have to respond to a provocation that threatens both its security and vital interests. Early reports suggest that Putin has already mobilized troops to the East and – according to Reuters “put fighter jets along its western borders on combat alert.” Here’s more from Reuters:


“The United States says any Russian military action would be a grave mistake. But Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Moscow would defend the rights of its compatriots and react without compromise to any violation of those rights.” (Reuters)


There’s going to be a confrontation, it’s just a matter of whether the fighting will escalate or not.


In order to topple Yanukovych, the US had to tacitly support fanatical groups of neo-Nazi thugs and anti-Semites. And, even though “Interim Ukrainian President Oleksander Tuchynov has pledged to do everything in his power to protect the country’s Jewish community”; reports on the ground are not so encouraging. Here’s an excerpt from a statement by Natalia Vitrenko, of The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine that suggests the situation is much worse than what is being reported in the news:


“Across the country… People are being beaten and stoned, while undesirable members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine are subject to mass intimidation and local officials see their families and children targeted by death threats if they do not support the installation of this new political power. The new Ukrainian authorities are massively burning the offices of political parties they do not like, and have publicly announced the threat of criminal prosecution and prohibition of political parties and public organizations that do not share the ideology and goals of the new regime.” (“USA and EU Are Erecting a Nazi Regime on Ukrainian Territory”, Natalia Vitrenko)


Earlier in the week, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a Ukrainian synagogue had been firebombed although the “Molotov cocktails struck the synagogue’s exterior stone walls and caused little damage”.


Another article in Haaretz referred to recent developments as “the new dilemma for Jews in Ukraine”. Here’s an excerpt from the article:


“The greatest worry now is not the uptick in anti-Semitic incidents but the major presence of ultra-nationalist movements, especially the prominence of the Svoboda party and Pravy Sektor (right sector) members among the demonstrators. Many of them are calling their political opponents “Zhids” and flying flags with neo-Nazi symbols. There have also been reports, from reliable sources, of these movements distributing freshly translated editions of Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in Independence Square.” (“Anti-Semitism, though a real threat, is being used by the Kremlin as a political football”, Haaretz)


Then there’s this, from Dr. Inna Rogatchi in Arutz Sheva:


“There is no secret concerning the real political agenda and programs of ultra-nationalist parties in Ukraine – there is nothing close to European values and goals there. One just should open existing documents and hear what the representatives of those parties proclaim daily. They are sharply anti-European, and highly racist. They have nothing to do with the values and practices of the civilized world…


Ukrainian Jewry is facing a real and serious threat….To empower the openly neo-Nazi movements in Europe by ignoring the threat they pose is an utterly risky business. People should not have to pay a terrible price – again – for the meekness and indifference of their leaders. As Ukraine today has become the tragic show-case for all of Europe with regards to breeding and allowing race-hatred to become a violent and uncontrollable force, it is imperative to handle the situation there in accordance with existing international law and norms of civilization.” (“Tea With Neo-Nazis: The Violent Nationalism in Ukraine“, Arutz Sheva)


Here’s a little more background on the topic by progressive analyst Stephen Lendmen from a February 25 post titled “New York Times: Supporting US Imperial Lawlessness”:


“Washington openly backs fascist Svoboda party leader Oleh Tyahnybok…In 2004, Tyahnybok was expelled from former President Viktor Yushchenko’s parliamentary faction. He was condemned for urging Ukrainians to fight against a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia.”


In 2005, he denounced “criminal activities” of “organized Jewry.” He outrageously claimed they plan “genocide” against Ukrainians.”…


Tyahnybok extremism didn’t deter Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland. On February 6, she met openly with him and other anti-government leaders.


In early January, 15,000 ultranationalists held a torchlight march through Kiev. They did so to honor Nazi-era collaborator/mass murderer Stepan Bandera. Some wore uniforms a Wehrmacht Ukrainian division used in WW II. Others chanted “Ukraine above all” and “Bandera, come and bring order.” (Steve Lendman blog)


Of course, the US media has downplayed the fascistic-neo-Nazi “ethnic purity” element of the Ukrainian coup in order to focus on– what they think — are more “positive themes”, like the knocking down of statues of Lenin or banning Communist party members from participating in Parliament. As far as the media is concerned, these are all signs of progress.


Ukraine is gradually succumbing to the loving embrace of the New World Order where it will serve as another profit-generating cog in Wall Street’s wheel. That’s the theory, at least. It hasn’t occurred to the boneheads at the New York Times or Washington Post that Ukraine is rapidly descending into Mad Max-type anarchy which could spill over its borders into neighboring countries triggering violent conflagrations, social upheaval, regional instability or–god-help-us– WW3. The MSM sees nothing but silver linings as if everything was going according to plan. All of Eurasia, the Middle East and beyond are being pacified and integrated into one world government overseen by the unitary executive who defers to no one but the corporations and financial institutions who control the levers of power behind imperial shoji-screen. What could go wrong?


Naturally, Russia is worried about developments in Ukraine, but is unsure how to react. Here’s how Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev summed it up the other day:


“We do not understand what is going on there. A real threat to our interests (exists) and to the lives and health of our citizens. Strictly speaking, today there is no one there to communicate with … If you think that people in black masks waving Kalashnikovs (represent) a government, then it will be difficult for us to work with such a government.”


Clearly, Moscow is confused and worried. No one expects the world’s only superpower to behave this irrationally, to hop-scotch across the planet creating one failed state after another, fomenting revolt, breeding hatred, and spreading misery wherever it goes. At present, the Obama team is operating at full-throttle trying to topple regimes in Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine, and God knows where else. At the same time, failed operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have left all three countries in dire straits, ruled by regional warlords and armed militias. Medvedev has every right to be concerned.


Who wouldn’t be? The US has gone off the rails, stark raving mad. The architecture for global security has collapsed while the basic principles of international law have been jettisoned. The rampaging US juggernaut lurches from one violent confrontation to the next without rhyme or reason, destroying everything in its path, forcing millions to flee their own countries, and pushing the world closer to the abyss. Isn’t that reason enough to be concerned?


Now Obama has thrown-in with the Nazis. It’s just the icing on the cake.


Check out this blurb from Max Blumenthal’s latest titled “Is the US Backing Neo-Nazis in Ukraine?”:


“Right Sector is a shadowy syndicate of self-described ‘autonomous nationalists’ identified by their skinhead style of dress, ascetic lifestyle, and fascination with street violence. Armed with riot shields and clubs, the group’s cadres have manned the front lines of the Euromaidan battles this month, filling the air with their signature chant: ‘Ukraine above all!’ In a recent Right Sector propaganda video the group promised to fight ‘against degeneration and totalitarian liberalism, for traditional national morality and family values.’


With Svoboda linked to a constellation of international neo-fascist parties through the Alliance of European National Movements, Right Sector is promising to lead its army of aimless, disillusioned young men on “a great European Reconquest.” (“Is the US Backing Neo-Nazis in Ukraine? — Exposing troubling ties in the US to overt Nazi and fascist protesters in Ukraine“, Max Blumenthal, AlterNet)


“Family values”? Where have we heard that before?


It’s clear, that Obama and his brainiac advisors think they have a handle on this thing and can train this den of vipers to click their heels and follow Washington’s directives, but it sounds like a bad bet to me. These are hard-core, died-in-the-wool, Nazi-extremists. They won’t be bought-off, co-opted or intimidated. They have an agenda and they aim to pursue that agenda to their last, dying breath.


Of all the dumb plans Washington has come up with in the couple years, this is the dumbest.


GJH/AGB



Israeli detention of Palestinian minors has increased


Israeli prison


The number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has sharply increased to 5,000, most of them (84 per cent) from the occupied West Bank, a report revealed on Saturday.


According to the report, which was issued by the former prisoner and activist in prisoners’ affairs Abdul-Naser Ferwaneh, the prisoners are distributed among 17 Israeli prisons. Most of the prisoners are detained in Nafha Prison, Ramoun, Negev, Hadarim, Ashkelon, Ofer and Majeddo Prisons.


Ferwaneh, who is the head of statistics department at the ministry of prisoners’ affairs, said that the Israeli occupation has increased the targeting of children younger than 18 years old.


He said that the number of minors inside Israeli jails is now 187. They are being arrested under severe conditions that contradict international conventions.


Regarding administrative prisoners, their number is 183. He said that there are 21 female prisoners, including mothers, wives, students and patients.


The prisoner who has spent the most time in prison is Lina al-Jarbouni, from Israel. She was arrested 12 years ago and is serving a 17-year sentence



Riyadh: Moscow main hurdle to Syria peace


russian chopper_web.jpg


Saudi Arabia has hit back at Russian criticism of its support for the oppressed Syrian people, saying it was Moscow’s continuous military and political support for Damascus that was prolonging the conflict that has already killed more than 140,000 and displaced millions.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said late Friday that it was persistent Russian backing for Bashar Assad’s regime, and its repeated use of its veto at the UN Security Council, that was blocking a peaceful solution to the conflict.

“This support is the principal reason for the barbarity of the Syrian regime and for the conflict dragging on for three years without hope of a settlement or of an end anytime soon to one of the most serious humanitarian crises of our time,” the spokesman said.

The Saudi official said the Russian move was an attempt to manipulate facts and blame the Kingdom for taking the side of the Syrian people against the aggression.

He said the Syrian regime was using tanks, canons and warplanes and even internationally prohibited chemical weapons in a flagrant violation of all humanitarian and international norms and charters.

“In the light of these compelling and conspicuous facts, what is raising strangeness and astonishment is the continuation of Russia’s support for the criminal regime, despite the regime’s attempts to foil the political solution made by Geneva 2,” the official said.

He added: “Due to the disappointment against the international failure to solve the crisis, the support of Russia for the Syrian regime is raising a lot of questions … Russia has lost a great deal of sympathy among Arabs who feel betrayed.”