No good options for Syria, Turkey says

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ANKARA, Turkey, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Syria appears headed down a path of no return and could face foreign intervention, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said.

Arab monitors left Syria last weekend, citing ongoing violence in the country. The mission was in place to ensure Syria was upholding commitments to pull its military forces from the streets, though there's no sign of the violence abating.

Members of the U.N. Security Council are trying to overcome a veto threat from Syrian ally Russia in an effort to censure Syrian President Bashar Assad for the bloodshed.

An "official source" in the Syrian Foreign Ministry was quoted by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency as saying Western statements criticizing Damascus "are parallel to the hard strikes that the armed terrorist groups (carried out)."

Gul said that it was unfortunate that Syria was now on a "path of no return."

"There is no (good) end for this. The end is certain," he was quoted by Turkish daily newspaper Today's Zaman as saying. "The question is how painful it will be."

Gul said "authoritarian rulers" in the Middle East can either reform or face intervention.

"If they do not do that and do not bring order to their lands, foreign intervention will be inevitable," he said.