Bahrain has backed calls for a Security Council resolution to establish safe havens inside Syria to protect civilians and ensure aid reaches them under UN supervision.

Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced the stance as he attended the Geneva-2 conference, in this Swiss town, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The proposed safe havens must be run by a transitional authority with a full-executive mandate - in line with the Geneva-1 communique of June 30, 2012, said Shaikh Khalid.

He stressed the need to provide more aid to Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, adding that refugees and displaced Syrians should be gradually relocated once safe havens are set up and foreign forces and armed militias leave Syria.

Shaikh Khalid urged the international community to assume its responsibility and stop the bloodshed in Syria.

"The international community has today a historic and ethical responsibility first and foremost," he said, describing the current bloodshed in Syria as a real challenge to human conscience.

The presence of regular foreign forces and terror groups is further complicating the already intricate Syrian crisis and prolonging the fighting, he said, citing particularly Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Lebanese Hizbollah militiamen, Daesh fighters, Al Qaeda and other terror groups. - TradeArabia News Service