U.S. says Russia's warning on Syrian civil war "incorrect"

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government on Thursday described as "incorrect" Russia's warning that Syrian opposition's continued use of violence may plunge the country into a civil war.

"We think that's an incorrect assessment," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in response to the warning made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier the day that if Syrian opposition continues to pursue violence, "they will bring about a full-scale civil war."

"We don't view it as a civil war," said Toner. He also failed to condemn the attacks by the Syrian opposition on government facilities, alleging that "the preponderance of violence that's been carried out against the Syrian people is on the part of the Assad regime."

International community is divided on how to settle the crisis in Syria. During her visit to Moscow on Thursday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton called for pressure on Syrian government to stop the violence in the country, While Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believed that external forces are seeking to deteriorate the situation in Syria in order to justify their interference in Syria's internal political affairs.

At its meeting in Morocco's capital of Rabat on Wednesday, the Arab League formally suspended Syria's membership, and gave President Bashar Assad's government three days to implement a peace plan brokered by the bloc to halt the violence and allow in observers from the organization, or face economic sanctions.

Anti-government protests broke out in mid-March in Syria, and have resulted in some 3,500 deaths so far, as the United Nations estimated.

The U.S. and its European allies have called on Assad to step down, and have slapped rounds of sanctions on his country to ratchet up the pressure.