Syria accuses US of waging ‘diplomatic war’

In this photo taken Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011, released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad addresses a meeting for the central committee of the Baath party in Damascus, Syria. A senior U.S. administration official told the Associated Press that President Barack Obama will demand on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar Assad resign for unleashing a sustained assault against his people. (AP Photo/SANA)

UNITED NATIONS — Syria is accusing the U.S. of waging “a humanitarian and diplomatic war” against it by imposing sanctions and calling for President Bashar Assad to resign.

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari told reporters Thursday the only aim of the U.S. “war” is to instigate further violence in the country by sending “the wrong message to the terrorist armed groups that they are under American and Western protection.”

Ja’afari insisted that Syria has halted military and police operations. Activists on Thursday, however, reported shooting in the flashpoint city of Latakia.

Ja’afari accused the U.S. and European countries of ignoring Syrian reforms and using the Security Council “to settle their old accounts with our country.”