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                       US Praises OIC Suspension of Syria

   by VOA News

   The United States has commended the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
   for suspending Syria from the 57-member bloc.
   In a statement after the move, State Department spokeswoman Victoria
   Nuland said the OIC decision sends a "strong message" to Syrian
   President Bashar al-Assad's government and shows its increasing
   international isolation.
   The suspension comes as the United Nations Security Council plans to
   hold a session to discuss the situation in Syria.  The mandate for the
   U.N. observer mission in the country expires Sunday.
   U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told reporters in Damascus that as
   many as 2.5 million Syrians are in need of assistance because of the
   violence.
   Also Thursday, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said a bombing of the
   rebel-controlled northern border town of Azaz by a Syrian warplane
   killed more than 40 civilians and wounded more than 100 others.
   The group visited the site Thursday, a day after the attack, which it
   said leveled an entire block of houses and may have been targeting two
   nearby facilities of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
   VOA correspondent Scott Bobb was in Azaz interviewing a local rebel
   commander when a bomb dropped by a Syrian Army MiG fighter Wednesday
   hit about three blocks away.
   "It blew the windows out of the office during the interview, and
   everyone evacuated," said Bobb. "A few minutes later, it appeared that
   the same MiG made a second pass and dropped another bomb."
   [1]Related - VOA Reporter Witnesses Air Strike in Syria
   Meanwhile, Syrian envoy Bouthaina Shaaban has praised China and Russia
   for their response to the crisis in Syria, saying that unlike the West,
   those countries are not acting like "colonizers."
   Shaaban's comments appeared Thursday in the state-run China Daily
   newspaper.  The adviser to Assad is due to meet with Chinese Foreign
   Minister Yang Jiechi.
   China and Russia have both vetoed three U.N. Security Council
   resolutions threatening Syria with sanctions for using heavy weapons
   against civilians.
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   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/us-praises-oic-suspension-of-syria/14
   89257.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/bomb-wounds-three-near-un-hotel-in-damascus/1486375.html
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-praises-oic-suspension-of-syria/1489257.html