Syria condemns Clinton comments

13 July 2011 Last updated at 02:55 GMT Protesters erected Syrian flags on the US embassy complex Syria has condemned as "provocative" a statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that President Bashar al-Assad has "lost legitimacy" to rule.

After a crowd attacked the US embassy in Damascus on Monday, Mrs Clinton said Mr Assad was "not indispensable".

France also blamed the regime after its embassy was similarly targeted.

The attacks have since been condemned by the UN Security Council, which called on Damascus to protect diplomatic property and personnel.

Syria's state news agency Sana said Mrs Clinton's remarks "amount to further proof of the flagrant interference of the US in the internal affairs of Syria".

President Barack Obama echoed Mrs Clinton's comments late on Tuesday, telling CBS that "increasingly you're seeing President Assad lose legitimacy in the eyes of his people".

The embassy attacks came after the US and French envoys visited the northern city of Hama - a focus of anti-government unrest - last week, to show solidarity with residents facing a security crackdown. Syria said they had sought to incite the protests.

Human rights groups say at least 1,400 civilians and 350 security force personnel have been killed since anti-government demonstrations across Syria began in mid-March.

The Syrian government denies targeting civilians, saying it is tackling armed groups.

Embassy attacks

Pro-government demonstrators have held protests outside the US and French embassies in the Syrian capital for the past two days.

Hillary Clinton: "We have absolutely nothing invested in President Assad remaining in power"

On Monday, three staff members at the French embassy were injured after protesters used a battering ram to try to enter the building. The protesters broke windows and replaced the French tricolore with the Syrian national flag.

The residence of the US ambassador, Robert Ford, was also briefly attacked.

President Obama said Washington had "sent a clear message that nobody can be messing with our embassy and that we will take whatever actions necessary in order to protect our embassy".

In the strongest criticism from Washington to date, Mrs Clinton said: "President Assad is not indispensable and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power... Our goal is to see that the will of the Syrian people for a democratic transformation occurs."

Syrian officials denounced the remarks in a statement on Tuesday.

"The political leadership [of Syria] does not draw its legitimacy from the United States, but solely from the will of the Syrian people," it said.

Syria expects the US and its envoys "to refrain from any actions that are liable to provoke the sentiments of Syrians and their attachment to their national independence".

In a statement also issued on Tuesday, the UN Security Council said it condemned the attacks "in the strongest terms".

"Members of the security council recall the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic missions and the obligations on host governments, including under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to take all appropriate steps to protect embassy premises," the statement said.

"In this context, the members of the Security Council call on the Syrian authorities to protect diplomatic property and personnel."

Dialogue ends

The diplomatic spat coincided with the close of a government-organised dialogue conference in Damascus that many opposition leaders have boycotted.

In the final statement from the two-day meeting, participants said that dialogue was the only way out of the current crisis.

It called for the immediate release of political prisoners and all those arrested during the past five months of unrest, and for a democratic and pluralistic Syria.

However, the statement rejected all kinds of foreign interference.

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Clinton dismisses Gaddafi threats

2 July 2011 Last updated at 12:42 GMT Hillary Clinton has often urged Col Gaddafi to quit Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi should stop issuing threats against Europeans and resign instead, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says.

"Gaddafi should put the well-being and the interests of his own people first and he should step down from power," Mrs Clinton said in Spain.

Col Gaddafi threatened on Friday to attack European "homes, offices, families" unless Nato stopped bombing.

Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians from Gaddafi forces.

"The Nato-led mission is on track. The pressure on Gaddafi is mounting and the rebels have been gaining strength and momentum. We need to see this through and we are in complete agreement that we will," Mrs Clinton said in Madrid.

'Retreat'

Speaking alongside Mrs Clinton, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said "Spain's and the international coalition's response is to maintain the unity and determination with which we have been working these past months".

Col Gaddafi made the threat in an audio message broadcast to tens of thousands of supporters gathered in a central Tripoli square on Friday.

His message comes after France confirmed it had supplied weapons to anti-government rebels, delivering arms to Berber tribal fighters near Tripoli.

In the broadcast, played via loudspeakers to gathered crowds in the capital's Green Square, he called on supporters to "march on the western mountains", the area where the weapons had been delivered.

Then he warned Europe that Libyans would seek revenge.

"These people [the Libyans] are able to one day take this battle [...] to Europe, to target your homes, offices, families, which would become legitimate military targets, like you have targeted our homes," he said.

"If we decide to, we are able to move to Europe like locusts, like bees. We advise you to retreat before you are dealt a disaster," he added.

His message come just days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi for crimes against humanity.

International prosecutors allege government troops fired on civilian protesters during anti-Gaddafi street demonstrations earlier this year.

Friday's rally was one of the largest in recent times, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, in Tripoli, and the message was the first time that Col Gaddafi had been heard of in days.

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Clinton backs 'brave' Saudi women

21 June 2011 Last updated at 18:41 GMT Many Saudi women defied the ban on driving by getting behind the wheel US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised "brave" Saudi women who are campaigning for the right to drive.

Mrs Clinton said they were "right" to press their demands in the ultra-conservative kingdom, in her first public comments on the issue.

Many Saudi women openly took to the roads last Friday in defiance of an official ban on female drivers.

Last month a woman was arrested after uploading a video of herself driving a car.

"What these women are doing is brave, and what they are seeking is right," Mrs Clinton told reporters when asked to comment on the campaign.

"I'm moved by it and I support them."

'Quiet diplomacy'

However, she underlined that she was not interfering in the internal affairs of Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the Middle East.

Continue reading the main story Kim Ghattas BBC state department correspondent

This was the first time that Mrs Clinton openly - and very forcefully - gave her support to Saudi women who want to drive. Her comments will not go down well with some Saudi officials or Saudi clerics.

The relationship between the two allies has been made even more complicated by the Arab uprisings, with conservative Saudi Arabia worried the US is choosing political reform over stability and security.

Washington had so far opted for quiet diplomacy on the issue of Saudi women's rights.

But with more Saudi women defying the driving ban and the call by activists for Mrs Clinton to speak out, it was no longer possible to stay silent.

It's also possible Mrs Clinton gave the Saudis advance notice that her public statement was coming - the issue came up in a conversation on Friday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

"I want to underscore the fact that this is not coming from outside of their country. This is the women themselves seeking to be recognised," she said.

Mrs Clinton's comments came a day after a US State Department spokeswoman said Mrs Clinton was engaged in "quiet diplomacy" over the issue.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Mrs Clinton had raised the driving ban issue in a recent telephone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

In an open letter to Mrs Clinton on Tuesday - released before her statement - Saudi women's rights activists said they were "disappointed" by the US approach.

The letter, from the Saudi Women for Driving coalition, reads: "Secretary Clinton: quiet diplomacy is not what we need right now. What we need is for you, personally, to make a strong, simple and public statement supporting our right to drive."

Last month, Manal al-Sherif was arrested after uploading a video of herself driving.

She was accused of "besmirching the kingdom's reputation abroad and stirring up public opinion", but was released after 10 days having promised not to drive again.

Since then, direct action has been organised on social network sites, with women posting images and videos of themselves driving.

The Women2Drive Facebook page has said that the direct action would continue until a royal decree reversed the ban.

The ban is not enforced by law, but is a religious fatwa imposed by conservative Muslim clerics.

It is one of a number of severe restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia.

Supporters say it relieves women of the obligation to drive and also prevents them from leaving home unescorted or travelling with an unrelated male.

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Clinton 'concern' at rape reports

17 June 2011 Last updated at 01:20 GMT The International Criminal Court believes Col Gaddafi's forces are using rape as a weapon of war The US secretary of state has said she is troubled by reports that Libyan government forces are raping civilians.

Hillary Clinton said she was was "deeply concerned" that Muammar Gaddafi's troops were participating in widescale rape in Libya.

The International Criminal Court says it believes that there were orders given to rape and drugs were provided.

In other parts of the Middle East and North Africa, Mrs Clinton said, there were even reports of "virginity tests".

She said that there were reports that governments across the Middle East and North Africa were using sexual violence to punish protesters and said such acts violate "basic human dignity".

"Rape, physical intimidation, sexual harassment, and even so-called 'virginity tests' have taken place in countries throughout the region," she said in a statement.

The ICC's recent report suggesting an official policy of rape encouraged by Col Gaddafi, and Mrs Clinton said a thorough investigation was needed "to bring perpetrators to justice".

She praised the courage of Iman al-Obeidi, whose accusations of rape against soldiers loyal to Col Gaddafi drew worldwide attention when she stormed into a Tripoli hotel in Tripoli and shouted her experience to a group of journalists.

"Since Iman al-Obeidi bravely burst into a hotel in Tripoli on 26 March to reveal that Gaddafi's security forces raped her, other brave women have come forward to tell of the horrible brutality they have experienced," she said.

She said such violence was an "affront" to people "yearning to live in a society free from violence with respect for basic human rights".

One major in the Libyan army who has now deserted has told the BBC that reports of shipments of Viagra were widely known about, but said they were given to foreign mercenaries rather than the regular army.

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