India rejects military solution for Syria

India has strongly opposed foreign military intervention in Syria, stressing the need for a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Arab state with the assistance of the international community. Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said on Saturday that his country supports the six-point peace plan proposed by the outgoing UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan for a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis, Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported. He also expressed New Delhi’s serious concern over the ongoing violence in Syria. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the West not to take unilateral action on Syria, saying that Russia and China agree that measures violating international law and the United Nations charter are impermissible. Russia and China base their diplomatic cooperation on "the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law and the principles contained in the UN Charter, and not to allow their violation," Lavrov said at a meeting with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo on August 21. Moscow and Beijing have opposed military intervention in Syria, and have vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions backed by Western and certain Arab states against the Syrian government. Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011, with many people, including large number of security forces, killed in the turmoil. While the West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of the killings, Damascus blames outlaws, saboteurs and insurgents for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.