China's state paper warns against foreign action in Syria

Chinas top state newspaper warned against foreign action in Syria and said the abandonment of special envoy Kofi Annans peace plan could plunge the country into the abyss of full-scale war.The commentary in the Peoples Daily comes as Syrian troops continue to clash with rebels and casualties rise, prompting warnings of a full-scale civil war and raising the prospect of outside military action under a UN mandate.It is not hard to imagine the sort of chaos that will be unleashed once Syria descends into full-scale civil war, thereby triggering Western military intervention, said the paper, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.Mass civilian casualties, enormous property losses, an increasingly turbulent society.... The lessons learnt from mistakes made in Libya are still fresh.It also said that external forces are not qualified to meddle.China, which along with Russia has vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions criticising President Bashar al-Assads regime, strongly condemned last weeks massacre of more than 100 civilians in the Syrian town of Houla.But it continues to oppose outside military intervention in the country and has pledged its continued support for UN-Arab League special envoy Annans six-point peace plan for Syria.Even Annan has demanded a serious review of his deadlocked efforts to end the bloodshed, and French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said at the weekend that France has not excluded military intervention in Syria.The international community should support Annans peace plan instead of losing confidence and patience, and should not have ulterior motives and proclaim to the world that Annans plan is dead, the commentary said.Once this realistic channel for the peaceful resolution of the Syrian issue is blocked, then it will most likely push this country into the abyss of full-scale war.Rights groups say as many as 2,400 of the more than 13,500 people killed since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011 have died since the ceasefire brokered by Annan kicked off on April 12.The violence has now spilled over into neighbouring Lebanon, with clashes between pro and anti-Syrian regime gunmen in the northern city of Tripoli leaving 14 people dead and 48 wounded since Saturday, a security official said.