UNITED NATIONS: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must end his violence against anti-government demonstrators around the country before they can be asked to stop defending themselves, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday.

“First and foremost the Assad government has to end the violence,” Clinton said after a special UN Security Council session.

“Once the Syrian government has acted, then we would expect others as well to end the violence,” she said. “But there cannot be an expectation for defenseless citizens in the face of artillery assaults to end their capacity to defend themselves before there's a commitment by the Assad regime to do so.”