• Bloody conflict in Syria in last 18 months• Armed conflict between Free Syrian Army (FSA) units,Syrian

National Council, National coordination committee and regime's heavily-armed forces

• A coalition of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Arab monarchies are supporting the armed-opposition, while Eastern powers such as Iran, Russia, and China have stood by the "regime". Three issue involved- a) future of weapons of Mass Destruction B) problems of infiltrators leading to sectarian crisis-transforming Syria into a new front for global Islamic Jihad C) The third problem is the ascendancy of political Islam and the threat it poses to regional security and stability.

International response

• The Arab League suspended Syrian membership and imposed economic sanctions on Damascus in November 2011, unprecedented moves by the twenty-two-nation bloc.

• The United States has placed a variety of sanctions on Syria that prohibit aid and restrict bilateral trade.

• The European Union has passed more than a dozen rounds of sanctions on the Assad regime since the March 2011 uprising.

Russian and Chinese stand

• Both Russia and China have significant economic and military relations with Syria.

• the countries have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at isolating the Assad regime-- the most recent July 19

• fears of another Western-backed military intervention similar to that in Libya and the Ivory Coast (Reuters).

REGIONAL IMPLICATIONS

• Sunni states like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf countries line up in support of the Syrian resistance, and Shiite-majority nations such as Iran and Iraq seek to bolster Assad's hold on power.

• Iran, a longtime Syrian ally, continues to have crucial links to the regime in Damascus. Tehran has provided Damascus with both military and much-needed economic assistance,

• the spiraling chaos in Syria include refugee flows, sectarian conflict, and non-state transnational violence,

• If the West intervenes militarily, Israel may have to face music• The problem can be stretched up to Central Asia

• Military intervention runs contrary to international law and negates the very idea of a democratic world order that India are working for.

• selective intervention for geopolitical reasons, which is camouflaged as ‘humanitarian intervention’. regimes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar have vested interests in demanding intervention

• neither the interventionists nor the Syrian ‘rebels’ are clear on how they propose to tackle what follows in the downstream of ‘regime change’ in Syria.

• The intervention will affect The Persian Gulf region (where over 6 million Indians live and work) won’t remain unaffected.

UN EFFORTS

• A series of Russian and Chinese vetoes have remained an obstacle to UN economic sanctions

• Kofi Annan's six-point plan-• .1 Work with the international envoy• 2. End violence by all parties under UN cease-fire; Syrian

army to stop using heavy weapons and withdraw from population centers

• 3. Allow humanitarian aid• 4. Free detainees• 5. Ensure freedom of movement for journalists• 6. Respect peaceful demonstrations

BRICS

• The Fourth BRICS Summit was hosted in New Delhi on 29 March 2012

• Members belong to Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, the transcontinental dimension.Brazil, Russia, India and China September 2006, South Africa joined the Grouping at the third Summit in Sanya, China in April 2011.

• Issues at fdiscussion-international terrorism, WMDs, climate change, food and energy security, MDGs, international economic and financial situation, etc.

DELHI SUMMIT• It backs dialogue to resolve the Iranian nuclear impasse. The declaration said the crisis

over Iran's nuclear programme should be resolved diplomatically and should not be allowed to escalate.

• The declaration also backs a Syria-led democratic transition. BRICS voices "deep concern" over Syria and calls for "an immediate end to all violence and violations of human rights" and backs a Syrian-led political process.

• setting up of a BRICS-led South-South Development Bank in the mold of the World Bank• Advocated reforms in IMF-IMF quota reforms: Pitch for greater representation of

developing countries and emerging economies in the IMF by speeding up quota reforms. Countries back a "merit-based selection-process" for the heads of the IMF and the World Bank,

• BRICS leaders pitch for reform of global governance institutions, including the UN, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

• Two agreements namely- “Master Agreement on Extending Credit Facility in Local Currencies” and “BRICS Multilateral Letter of Credit Confirmation Facility Agreement”- were signed by the Development Banks from BRICS countries.

• India and Seychelles were bound together by the waters of the Indian Ocean.

• Interests lies in working together closely in order to ensure the safety and security of the Indian Ocean region in the face of threats of piracy and terrorism.

• India is helping Seychelles in tackiling the menace of piracy and terror, India was cooperating with it in tackling them. New Delhi for extending a USD 75 million financial package

• South Africa as “one of our closest strategic partners in the developing world and in the African continent.

• Both are members of various international fora, including the United Nations Security Council, G-20, IBSA, BRICS, IOR-ARC