want to provoke a more robust international response against the assad regime and i don't think that that sort of strategy or behavior helps the situation at all on the other hand we can't give any credence or you know any. white sort of analysis to to the syrian regime they're committing terrible atrocities as well. but there is a first step to all this it's a complicated situation it's not easy to resolve and i'm not going to say you know i'm a genius in the end result but there's a good first step and that's precisely what the secretary general has has advised and what the u.n. envoy kofi annan has said stop sending arms to both sides and they will have leverage put on them to actually come to an agreement would you say now that calls for an end to venture in are reaching fever pitch i mean is it not now in time for the west to come in and intervene and put an end to the bloodshed particularly because civilians casualties are now rising every day. western intervention would almost certainly be u.s. led and i think that many. smart and you know scholarly experts in the region and i

only way that assad regime can be toppled is through military strength and i think that's a egregious mistake i mean military strength is one of said regimes few strengths right it's the only thing that it's devoted a significant amount of resources and attention to right there said regime has many weaknesses that that the international community should be exploiting right the fact that it has no international legitimacy the fact that it has atrocious human rights records but instead of focusing on those things instead of focusing on a nonviolent negotiated solution of this we feel like we have to push it further and further into the civil war basically cross our fingers that. fingers again so when and if i go back to you in dubai i mean this is crossing your fingers again i mean we will talk about this in a segment of the about what what is after assad if that's what that's the game plan i mean again who are these people well. certainly i just want to go back to. to an issue where is the west really choosing the actors that they want to support i think not at the end of the day when

assad. there would be no greater strategic blow to the regime of iran than assad falling. assad is iran's link to the mediterranean. assad is the link, the funding and arms path to hezbollah forte ran. assad is tehran's only arab ally. so the fall of assad would be a huge strategic blow to iran. let me be clear about this. you've been covering foreign policy for a long time. often when commanders in chief have to deal with difficult problems relating to foreign problems and national security, we're torn between our humanitarian goals, principles related to morality in our policy and issues related to just pure national interest. those too often come into conflict. it is rare that you have a situation like we do in syria today where the principles of morality and the humanitarian needs that are calling out for american leadership to help end this bloodbathing are so directly consistent with our national security interests. which is isolating tehran, putting pressure on tehran, and preventing tehran from becoming a hedge an mon in the region and toppling helping the oppositi

on the diplomatic moves to isolate the passarella shot -- to isolate the passarella shot -- the assad regime. it looks like a little more than a slap on the wrist. >> it was a political statement. it was a way of saying to the regime that we reject your political representatives and that you have clearly crossed a moral line in conducting your horrible atrocities. >> it looks like more than 30 children were executed at point blank range? and all the international community can do is expelling diplomats? >> you are right, this is frustrating war, and more remains to be done. -- this is frustrating work, and more remains to be done. we need to bring this to bear on assad and his cronies. they need to look around and see that they are on the wrong side of history. this is taking a long time. >> so far, the mix of political and economic pressure does not seem to have changed things, on the ground in syria, and, indeed, things on the ground are getting worse in syria. >> this provides somewhat of a positive impact on the ground, but you're absolutely right in that the assad regime has failed to c

torn apart. >> most of the people in these camps are sunni muslims who have bore the brunt of the assad regime the call to prayer right now. thank you for watching this "360." i hope you heard the voices of the people here. voices that the regime of barber al assad has tried to science for 14 months. erin burnett starts now. >>> out front next, the losses at jpmorgan, the number getting bigger today. the dow took a hit, and a high level executive lost her job. ms possible new evidence of iran's suspected nuclear weapons og

and even the assassinations of the assad regime.ated an interest in helping to provide such safe zones and the united states needs to stand with them along with the rest of the international community. >> so when you talk to your friends in the obama white house, what do they say, what is their answer for not doing more immediately? >> i think the obama white house has got to get credit for doing sha some things. they talk about international partners. president obama is talking with russian leaders to see if they can gets a s assad to leave off. i think the world has seen promises from the assad regime broken time and time again, broken with the turks, broken with various international partners. and they simply don't mean to keep their word when they say they're not going to slaughter civilians. so i think it's time for the world to step up and stop this atrocity. our attention is drawn because of what happened in hugh larks but they've killed over 20,000 people and it doesn't stop. >> i want you to listen to the president. he rare

the uk was clear. >> it's part of the behavior of the assad regime, i believe, to commit atrocities and then to try to blame the atrocities on other people. >> russia, far less so. their foreign minister blamed both sides for the massacre and opposed regime change. he called for an end of violence but after friday's bloodbath and months of killing, those words rang hollow. for now, decisive action against the assad regime seems blocked by russia. analysts say moscow doesn't want to lose its last ally in the middle east. its only firm foothold in a region cast into chaos by the ongoing upheavals of the arab spring. savannah. >> nbc's richard engle, thank you. >>> back at home, this memorial day saw the president and the man who wants to replace him honoring americans who gave everything for their country. with the election just five months away now, politics was pretty close to the surface, too. here's nbc's kristen welker. >> mitt romney marking memorial day with president obama's former rival and one of the nation's most well known veterans, senator john mccain. the political symbolism

bureau chief. >> wants to give that question that it is not the last remaining supporter of the assad regime. russia has been criticizing for some time for not fully implementing kofi annan's peace plan. the kremlin has already realized that assad will have to be replaced, and that behind the scenes, moscow is working on a plan for transition of power in damascus. but we do not have any confirmation up that. even now, russia refuses for assad -- refuses to call for assad to step down. >> for more on this, let's be joined in the studio by our middle east expert. we just heard from moscow there. how strong is russian support at this point for the regime in syria? >> the support remains very strong, but what we are witnessing now is a change in time keeping the russian government was saying today they could imagine the toppling of bashar al-assad, not the regime, but the president. it is a clear indication that moscow is getting nervous about events in syria. moscow knows very well should be regime change in the future, the russians will not be liked by the syrian people or the new syrian gover

the uk was clear. >> it is part of the pattern of behavior of the assad regime, i believe, to commit atrocities and then to try to blame those atrocities on other people. >> reporter: russia far less so. foreign minister lavrov blamed both sides for the massacre and opposed regime change. he called for an end to the violence. after friday's bloodbath and months of killing, those words rang hollow. >> richard engel reporting there. as richard said there was a cease-fire brokered about six weeks ago. obviously, that's not being respected. so the question is, what now does the world community do? a couple of different opinions this morning. "the washington post" jennifer ruben writes the level of inanity among administration officials increases daly. secretary of state clinton last week pronounced the assad regime brutality against its own people must and will end. assad's reign of terror will end only if he is forced to leave or killed. and clinton has nothing but finger wagging to offer. over to the guardian who talks about yaush, syria's top ally and how it must be involved. for russi

regime forces have attacked. new images from there, a young girl in a yellow dress crying out in pain. a wounded young boy says he wants assad to die. as you watch the following videos, keep in mind the regime of assad says they are observing a ceasefire. the free syrian army, as they call themselves, shoot a rocket propelled grenade. they're outgunned, outmanned. the opposition says at least 23 government soldiers were killed today in rastan and three armored personnel carriers destroyed. elsewhere in homs, a syrian tank rolls down the street. among bombed out buildings and open fire. and at hama today, tanks rolled in and heavy gunfire ensued. we can't independently confirm what these videos purport to show. they're scenes uploaded to youtube by activists. for months there's been concern the violence will spill into neighboring countries. this week we saw some of that beginning to happen. in tripoli fighting erupted pitting residents against each other. at least seven people were killed in lebanon. every day in syria, more syrian citizens die, more syrian citizens flee to refugee camps, more syrian citizens are wounded, ar

so on i do not believe that external forces can be decisive but obviously at this point the l assad regime is in a very precarious kind of situation and therefore international support coming from russia and china. is very important however it does not appear that russia and china can pursue a. regime to be more flexible to engage in more constructive negotiation so are simply relying on are on a violent crackdown certainly not in the intent b.d.a. and long term you mention russia there in that criticism is often leveled against russia for selling weapons to the syrian regime although moscow says it's merely honoring existing contracts on the other hand saudi arabia is openly saying it's arming the rebels so why is that not being talked about well i think with it's a situation night this various parties can to talk about the facts that are favorable to its position and they certainly don't want to talk about facts that are favorable to their respective positions so v do get random ideas analysis from various parties concerned but obviously every gene which uses. its people is in trouble an

assad regime has to step aside for this violence to stop whilst foreign minister said at the level of says that for russia it's not really that important which regime is power in syria it's the internal issue of the time she but what's mostly important is for the violence to stop and in order for that equal pressure has to be applied on both sides of the conflict not only on assad's regime but also on the opposition and russia's foreign minister is also stressed that another important thing besides uniting the opposition and the authorities and getting them to these peaceful negotiations for the violence and finally stop the second most important thing is for all. the outside pulling yours as you call them for the international community community to all so unite in their position in order to be able to productively help solve this problem and for the coffee on peace plan to be conducted first of all by both sides of the conflict in syria itself said you know i would offer is also mentioned that when it comes to a regime change and he was talking about specifically some of the. countr

the truce that the assad regime have flagrantly violated since day one. they issued a statement that saying use of force against civilians violated international law. the final security council statement did not blame the regime for friday's massacre, that's remarkable. an earlier draft did, but russia which has veto power objected. russia's foreign minister likened the slaughter in syria to a night at the disquo. >> you know, it takes two to dance, it takes two to tango. even though in the current situation in syria, what we have is not the tango. we see having a disco party where players are dancing. they should all dance in the same way. >> syria, he says is a disco party. the assad regime disavows it all. >> we absolutely deny that the government's armed forces had any responsibility in committing such a massacre, and we strongly condemn the terrorist massacre that targeted our syrian people in a blatant manner. and we condemn this absurdity of blaming the armed forces -- >> these people have been lying now for more than 14 months, they've repeatedly d

there is no simple solution, there is no decapitating the regime, getting rid of bashar al-assad and coming to a solution. we are looking at a community, the allowites on the edge of survival, will fight to the very end. their lives are at stake. we can decapitate the regime. it won't make any difference. the russians and chinese are being very pragmatic about it. frankly, i think the white house is, you know, saying hold me back, hold me back. we don't want to go in syria, there is no easy solution, we can't separate the communities. we could use some force against their armor, from the air, but what will that get us? could get us a worst civil war. >> so then, fareed, if as bob says if you decapitate the leadership, it really doesn't make a difference. is it time to seriously look at military intervention? is there a stomach for military intervention, the people who pushed for military interventis, others say no. is it doable? >> i think it's very tough and i think what bob meant is even if you were to militarily intervene, it would be difficult. the alowites realize in a post-assad

no one will return until bashar al assad's regime has fallen. they will hope the world takes notice. kids have begun classes, have already learned a heart breaking lesson in the sadness of life. >> joining me live here on the syrian/turkey border ivan watson and fellow at harvard institution. professor, you've been to these camps before. the people here have great dignity. to hold their head up. but they really do feel abandoned by much of the world. >> they feel -- exactly. they use the word forsaken. the camera is a different instrument and a different creature. these people want the people to bear witness to their suffering. and the camera in a way, they have this relationship to it. they are drawn to it. because in fact, they remain convinced that should the people know about them, should the people of the world see what they have suffered, they understand they're not terrorists. they're not al qaeda. many of them were telling you, trying to convince you we have nothing to do with al qaeda. we're not terrorist groups. one man told you we don

increasingly divided over the syrian conflict trouble erupted between sunni opponents of president assad's regime and this ana winds of. thousands of ten maybe and it's march through montreal this week deploying a law designed to curb student and did to be rallies which have often ended in violence and arrests. next as promised or we explore the possible consequences of the conflict in syria as the country's deputy foreign minister talks to our. we're joined today by syria's that p.t. foreign minister thank you very much for joining us despite all the efforts safe to put an end to it the violence in syria is continuing and seems to be increasing why is the syrian government been unable to put an end to this well actually it is the very strong desire and determination of the sharon government from the very beginning to put an end to violence but. the ball is not in the court of the syrian government or of the syrian people it is in the court of those who do not want to see these events stop it insecurity in serbia but particularly those who are calling the flaring every now and then for arming the

this morning russia and china, to countries that supported the assad regime. the u.n. estimates more than 13,000 people have been killed during the 15-month uprising. >>> the blind chinese activists says china has laws but they're not followed. cheng guangcheng called for an investigation into what he called a seven-year punishment. in an op-ed piece in the new york times says he urge the government and people of the united states and other democratic countries. >>>. he was given diplomatic sanctua sanctuary. he arrived in the u.s. earlier this month to study law. >>> recovery efforts are under way in northern italy after yesterday's deadly earthquake. this reporter was on the air and a strong aftershock hit. the quake was the second to hit the region in nine days. at least 16 people were killed and some 350 were injured. some were returning to work for the first time since the last earthquake. >>> an apology from the former rutgers university student who used a web cam to spy on his roommate. ravi used a web cam to spy on a romantic encounter between tyler clementi an

but now centrally in the context with respect to the assad regime and syria, people are looking to and talking about the financial pressures. really the only tool we're applying to try to affect change there. can you talk to us about what the next steps are with respect to financial pressure and whether or not you think this is going to work? >> yeah, and i'm also going to quibble with the premise of your question. i don't think that in syria the only tool we're applying today is financial pressure. but it is an important tool. and it is a tool that we have been you know, relying upon quite substantially since the uprising you know, about a year ago, even more than a year ago, in syria. we have adopted three new sanctions programs on syria in that period. a sanctions program specifically focused on human rights abuses in syria. which i should add has led to a number of designations of syrian officials as well as iranian officials who have been supporting the abuse of human rights in syria. the sanctions program focused on syrian government officials and then last august, a sanctions pr

. >> translator: the assad regime has colluded with terrorist groups in and outside the country to terrorize citizens and justify the crackdown. >> ghalioun said monitoring of the cease-fire and mediation efforts are not enough to halt the violence because of the differences among u.n. members. >> translator: the united nations security council should adopt a resolution that allows the use of military force against the assad regime if it fails to comply with the cease-fire. >> ghalioun also acknowledged the need to overcome divisions among opposition groups. >>> u.s. officials say they're ready to pursue a security council resolution that would eninclude an arms embargo against the syrian government if the cease-fire fails. >> any and all violence that results in the indiscriminate killing and injury of civilians is reprehensible and cannot be justified. >> the state department spokesperson said the tactics employed in the damascus bombings are different from those used by opposition forces. she singled out potential third elements who seek to derail the transition process. russia's foreign

that if we see either the assad regime or its cronies using the lebanese financial system as a way to escape the sanctions, weaken the sanctions, we will act. likewise, as iran is under increasing financial pressure around has lost access to financial centers around the world, um, you know, we are concerned that the iranians will look to beirut, which is an international financial center, has been for some time, as their jumping off point back into the international financial system. and so, again, we have been very clear with the lebanese that that's something that we are very attentive to and will respond to if we have the president kags. president casian. president kags. president predication. >> how do you think about and deal with the rise of the chinese economy, the chinese banking system? we see in the newspapers today the federal reserve announcing the allowance for chinese banks to expand their presence in the u.s. significant announcement, i think. how do you deal with the chinese, in part when they are not as cooperative as we'd like them to be on some of these issue, wheth

so i think we all have to redouble our efforts to try to make sure that the assad regime implements the annan plan. >> russia's foreign minister also says it was important to stick with implementing the kofi annan cease-fire plan. >> the u.k. and russian federation really want to support kofi annan, so that given the respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty of syria, it comprised by all the interested parties should take place without any interference. >> sergei lavrov went on to say that he actually had great doubts about those countries who are talking about regime change effectively. he doubts that they want to end the violence, and for russia, the change of regime was not the point. the point was to end the violence and the killing of innocent people, obviously condemning happened in houla on friday. but the russians apparently not changing their position at all. our diplomatic correspondent is with me. you are watching this. what did you make of what they had to say? >> well, i thought it was interesting that both britain's foreign secretary, william hague, and sergei lavro

they want to isolate the assad regime from the global financial system. they've added a syrian bank to their list of those facing sanctions. treasury department officials say the syrian international islamic bank has been acting as a front, they say other financial institutions use it to get around sanctions. the bank is based in damascus. treasure officials say it processed $150 million in transactions last year on behalf of banned institutions. the treasury undersecretary david cohen said the new sanction will add pressure on the assad regime by closing off a key means of evasion. he said officials in qatar have agreed to take similar actions. department officials will host their international counterparts next week. they'll discuss what else they doon to persuade assad. >>> u.s. president barack obama used a video conference link to speak with european leaders about the debt problems. they agreed they need to work together to limit further damage. obama shared his views with german chancellor angela merkel, french president francois holland d hollande

opposition groups say the assad regime staged the bombings itself to undermine the u.n.bserver mission. supporters of the government took to the streets of damascus after the attack. assad and his supporters describe those involved in the uprising as terrorists. the head at the u.n. mission said attacks of this kind would help no one. >> my very clear message to anyone, to anyone that is engaging in this kind of violence is that it is not going to solve any problems. >> the number of observers is to reach 300 by the end of the month, but as violence spreads in syria, many are asking if the unarmed monitors will be able to help calm the situation. >> voters in of jerry are going to the polls. elections are being billed as the fairest in many years. the main competitors are two government-affiliated parties facing a three-party islamist block. no one party is expected to dominate the legislature. some 500 international observers are monitoring the pauling. the last elections were in 1991 and ronald after an islamist party was set to win. 10 years of civil war ensued. spain

the issue is that with the action that the assad regime is taking, the regime's claim that it is, inact, fighting, foreign-backed islamist groups might end up being a forgone conclusion because that is beginning to emerge. remember the ties between syria and iraq. very tribal. when the iraq war was taking place, there were a fair number of fighters that went from syria to iraq. they were trained on how to build roadside bombs -- >> the assad regime allowed fighters in. >> exactly. they opened the border. they know how to blow up an american tank using things you'd find in your kitchen. this is what's interesting. when they went back, a number of them were, in fact, detained by the regime but then released in the summer and early fall with the regime's knowledge that they would then eventually carry out these types of attacks against the government itself, yes, but allow the assad government to say, look, we are fighting these foreign-backed groups. >> what's the role that iran is playing in syria, and how important is syria to iran? >> iran right now, i've got some very good friends