ISRAEL: U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates says Syrian authorities battling anti-government protesters should follow the example of Egypt

Record ID: 279759

  • Title: ISRAEL: U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates says Syrian authorities battling anti-government protesters should follow the example of Egypt
  • Date: 25th March 2011
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (MARCH 24, 2011) (REUTERS) U.S. DEFENCE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES AND ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER EHUD BARAK CONVENING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. DEFENCE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES SAYING: "I would say that what the Syrian government is confronting is in fact the same challenge that faces so many governments across the region. And that is the unmet
  • Embargoed: 9th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel, Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAC8GNW96CPNK7ZLK3BGFVIY3D7
  • Story Text: Syrian authorities battling anti-government protesters should follow the example of Egypt, U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates says.
    Syrian authorities battling anti-government protesters should follow the example of Egypt, whose military held fire and helped the February revolution to unfold, U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said on Thursday (March 24).
    The remarks, made during a visit to Syria's arch-foe Israel, suggested the Obama administration saw Damascus as a next testing ground for dissident movements sweeping the Middle East.
    "I would say that what the Syrian government is confronting is in fact the same challenge that faces so many governments across the region. And that is the unmet political and economic grievances of their people," Gates told reporters.
    "Some of them are dealing with it better than others. I've just come from Egypt where the Egyptian army stood on the sidelines and allowed people to demonstrate and in fact empowered a revolution. The Syrians might take a lesson from that," he added.
    Dozens of demonstrators have been killed by troops in almost a week of violence centred on the southern Syrian city of Deraa.
    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of Iran, key player in neighbouring Lebanon and supporter of anti-Israel militants, has dismissed rising reform calls in the country of 20 million people run by the Baath Party since a 1963 coup.
    With foreign censure mounting, an Assad adviser on Thursday signalled government readiness to accommodate the demonstrators.
    The Egyptian military, which receives U.S. defence aid, has run a caretaker government in Cairo since President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down on Feb. 11 following mass demonstrations against his three-decade rule.
    Gates cited Syria, Libya and Iran as examples of "authoritarian regimes (that) have suppressed their people and have been willing to use violence against them".
    "And so I think that what we see is the opening to the future that's occurring in virtually all of these countries," said Gates, whose visit to the region includes stops in Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.
    Gates's host, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, sounded a cautious note over the prospects for major domestic upheaval in Syria -- a country with which he has recommended seeking negotiations as part of a wider regional peace drive.
    "In regard to the peace opportunities - once again we cannot pass a judgement right now whether it's good or not, whether the situation is right or not, but the time that the Syrian government will decide that they're open to consider negotiating with us, we will be open," Barak said.
    He added that Israel should be ready to "seize" opportunities created by the new reality unfolding in the Middle East.
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