Hague meets with Syrian opposition

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Syria was on the verge of a civil war and risks collapse into sectarian strife, after meeting members of the Syrian opposition based in Istanbul on June 1.

“Both the (United Nations) Secretary General and I and also the opposition in Syria think that Syria is on the edge of a catastrophic situation... on the edge of an all-out civil war and the collapse of Syria into sectarian strife,” Hague told a small group of journalists after the meeting, according to Agence France-Presse.

Damascus refused Turkish officials

Meanwhile, Damascus refused to grant visas to five Turkish officials who were set to join the U.N.’s observer mission in Syria, a Turkish official has told the Hürriyet Daily News. In May, the U.N. asked Turkey to notify the names of 10 Turkish officials who could participate to the organization’s observer group. Only five of them, who could speak Arabic, were approved by the U.N. However, the group could not enter Syria due to the blocking of Damascus.