Diplomacy again stalled on Syria as clashes continued Monday, with rights groups saying dozens of people were killed in recent days in battles between Syrian government forces and rebels.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports more than 75 government soldiers were killed over the weekend as rebels intensified attacks on government checkpoints. State media has not acknowledged the casualties and there is no independent confirmation.
New clashes erupted in Idlib province late on Sunday and carried into Monday, killing at least two rebel fighters. The opposition Syrian National Council reported that government forces were using “tanks, rocket launchers and artillery” to repel rebels.
The attacks continued as a European Union summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday failed to resolve differences in how to deal with Syria's 15-month long conflict.
Speaking at the end of the summit in St. Petersburg, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the Russian leader and the 27-nation bloc have “some divergent assessments” about Syria.
In a joint news conference with Mr. Putin, Van Rompuy said both sides need to work together to achieve an immediate stop to Syria's violence and launch a process of political transition in the country, led for 11 years by President Bashar al-Assad.
“On Syria, let me say that the situation is appalling. The Syrian regime should immediately seize all forms of violence and provide its full support to the U.N. supervision mission. The European Union and Russia might have some divergent assessments but we fully agree that [U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi] Annan's plan as a whole provides the best opportunity to break the cycle of violence in Syria, avoiding the civil war and finding a peaceful lasting solution. We need to combine our efforts in order for this to happen and to find common messages on which we agree.''
President Putin said Syria was among the topics he discussed with Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, but the Russian leader did not elaborate.
Russia and the West have long disagreed about which side of the Syrian conflict should do more to end the violence. Russia says Mr. Assad and the rebels trying to oust him have an equal obligation to stop fighting, while Western powers say the Syrian president should act first by ending his deadly crackdown on dissent.
Moscow also has rejected Western calls for Mr. Assad to step down, saying the political future of its longtime ally should be for Syrians to decide through peaceful means.
Van Rompuy said Russia and the EU agree that international peace envoy Kofi Annan's plan “provides the best opportunity” to avoid a civil war in Syria and find a peaceful solution.
But, Western powers have acknowledged that Mr. Annan's plan is faltering as Syrian government and rebel forces engage in daily battles, ignoring the plan's call for a cease-fire that was supposed to take effect in April.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday she told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the focus of international diplomacy on Syria is shifting to a political transition rather than negotiations with Mr. Assad's government.
Speaking before a visit to Armenia on Monday, Clinton said Mr. Assad's “departure does not have to be a precondition” to a resolution of the conflict, but added that “it should be an outcome.”
