VOA标准英语2012--Rising Death Toll in Syria Prompts Calls for Western Intervention

Rising Death Toll 1 in Syria Prompts Calls for Western Intervention 2

The violence in Syria continues to escalate 3 and the death toll mounts.

The Syrian military is now using helicopter gunships and tanks to shell civilian 4 areas, while armed rebels have intensified 5 their attacks on government soldiers.

Opposition 6 activists 8 say the humanitarian 9 situation worsens while the world only watches.

“This is an equal if not greater tragedy that continues to expound 10 daily and that does not seem to have the political will of the international community to, at the very least, protect these people,” said

Dr. Abdul Majeed Katranji.

Tens of thousands of refugees are either trapped by the fighting or have fled across the border.

Now some influential 11 voices are saying more is needed.

“We should make U.S. airpower available, along with that of our allies, as part of an international effort to defend safe areas in Syria and to prevent Assad’s forces from harassing 12 them as they will inevitably 13 try to do,” said U.S. Senator John McCain.

McCain argues the longer the conflict drags on, the more it turns into a sectarian civil war that Syrians alone will not be able to stop.

“The country is being partitioned. Waiting will allow for the partitioning to actually take effect. There will be repercussions 14 that will be felt in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Jordan, in Turkey and perhaps even in Israel as well,” Syrian pro-democracy activist 7 Ammar Abdulhamid said.

But some analysts 15 caution against military intervention, warning that important questions remain unanswered. “What is going to happen with Syrian chemical and biological weapons? If push comes to shove would Assad use them? If he falls do they matriculate to Hezbollah, do they matriculate to al-Qaida? How do we control those things?,” noted 16 counterterrorism expert Brian Fishman.

The U.N. has hundreds of observers in Syria, but their mission was temporarily suspended because of security concerns.

International efforts to halt the violence are deadlocked 17 because Russia and China have blocked tougher action in the U.N. Security Council.

There were no breakthroughs despite talks at the recent G20 summit.

“We had a very candid 18 conversation. I wouldn’t suggest that at this point the United States and the rest of the international community are aligned 19 with Russia and China in their positions. But I do think they recognize the grave dangers of all-out civil war,” said President Obama at the summit

Russia argues that President Bashar al-Assad still has the support of some of the Syrian people.

“We believe that no-one has the right to decide for another nation who should be in power and who should step aside," said Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The U.S. says it is not supplying weapons to the rebels, but the New York Times newspaper reports a small group of CIA officers is in southern Turkey helping 20 to coordinate 21 arms shipments from other governments.