WASHINGTON — The White House renewed calls Saturday for Bashar al-Assad to step down at a “critical juncture” in Syria after UN observers suspended their mission, saying it was discussing the way ahead with allies.

The unarmed observers have been targeted almost daily since deploying in mid-April to monitor a UN-backed but widely flouted ceasefire brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, and they were likened to “sitting ducks in a shooting gallery” by Susan Rice, the US envoy to the United Nations.

“We call again on the Syrian regime to uphold its commitments under the Annan plan, including the full implementation of a ceasefire,” a White House official said.

Explaining the decision to halt the observer operation, mission head Major General Robert Mood spoke of an escalation in fighting and of the risk to his 300-strong team, as well as the “lack of willingness” for peace by the warring parties.

“At this critical juncture, we are consulting with our international partners regarding next steps toward a Syrian-led political transition as called for in Security Council Resolutions 2042 and 2043,” the White House official added.

“The sooner this transition takes place, the greater the chance of averting a lengthy and bloody sectarian civil war.”

UN Security Council resolutions 2042 and 2043 addressed the deployment of monitors to Syria.

Mood said the observers will now no longer conduct patrols and will remain at their locations until further notice, adding that “operations will resume when we see the situation fit for us to carry out our mandated activities.”

Violence in Syria has killed more than 14,400 people since an uprising against the Assad regime erupted in mid-March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UN mission’s suspension came two months into its three-month mandate, and after the United Nations accused both sides in the Syria conflict of willingly intensifying the violence.

With world powers at loggerheads over how to stem the bloodletting, Syrian ally Russia urged that pressure be increased “on both the regime and the opposition (to) make them cease fighting” and start talking peace.

By Matt Williams

The UN said the uptick in violence was stopping personnel from carrying out their mandate to observe an April 12 ceasefire deal. Photograph: EPA

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press – 2 hours ago  

BEIRUT (AP) — The head of the U.N. observers in Syria said Friday that a recent spike in bloodshed is derailing the mission to monitor and defuse more than a year of violence and could prompt the unarmed force to pull out.

The observer mission is the only functioning part of an international peace plan that Kofi Annan brokered two months ago. Western powers have pinned their hopes on the plan, in part because there are no other options on the table. There is little support for military intervention, and several rounds of sanctions have done little to stop the bloodshed.

“Violence over the past 10 days has been intensifying willingly by the both parties, with losses on both sides and significant risks to our observers,” Maj. Gen. Robert Mood told reporters in Damascus. “The escalating violence is now limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects.”

Mood also said there was a concern among the states providing observers that the risk is approaching an unacceptable level for continuing the mission. He did not provide further details.

Mood’s comments were a clear sign that Annan’s peace plan is disintegrating. The regime and the opposition have ignored a cease-fire that was supposed to go into effect April 12.

The presence of the observers is considered critical to understanding the conflict in a country where the government prevents reporters from operating independently.

On Friday, the Syrian regime kept up a ferocious offensive on rebel areas across the country this week to reclaim territory held by rebels.

An activist in the northern city of Aleppo said troops backed by helicopters and tanks were engaged in “raging battles” in the rebel-held town of Anadan and several other locations in the province.

The violence did not stop thousands of Syrians in Aleppo city, and other areas throughout the country from demonstrating against President Bashar Assad on Friday. They marched from mosques, gathered in town squares, chanted, sang and danced against the regime.

“Even if I die, I will still be a rebel,” sang the leader of a demonstration in the northern city of Idlib, according to amateur video. “Oh Bashar, you will flee.”

Eight protesters were killed in the southern town of Busra al-Sham after Syrian forces fired a shell near the Khaled Bin Walid mosque, according to activists and amateur videos that appeared to show bloodied men sprawled lifeless on a street.

The video could not be independently verified.

More than 20 people were reported killed when security forces opened fire on protests across the country, but the toll could not be independently verified.

One area that Syrian forces have recently reclaimed is Haffa, which they overran on Wednesday. They pushed out hundreds of rebels from the town in the coastal Latakia province, after intense battles that lasted eight days.

U.N. observers entered the nearly deserted town Thursday and found smoldering buildings, looted shops, smashed cars and a strong stench of death, according to U.N. spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh.

The siege of Haffa, a Sunni-populated village, had become a focus of international concern because of fears the uprising against the Assad regime is evolving into a sectarian civil war pitting the president’s minority Alawite sect against the majority Sunnis and other groups. Recent mass killings in other Sunni-populated areas have fueled those concerns.

U.N. observers have reported a steep rise in violence in Syria in recent weeks.

On Friday, Mood said there appears to be a lack of willingness to seek a peaceful transition.

“Instead there is a push toward advancing military positions,” he said.

“What we have seen on the ground is that the attacks by the armed opposition on official buildings and government checkpoints are becoming more effective and the government is taking great losses,” he said.

Activists say some 14,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.

An international rights watchdog, meanwhile, accused Syrian government forces of using sexual violence to torture men, women and boys detained during the uprising. In a report released Friday, The New York-based Human Rights Watch also quoted witnesses and victims as saying that soldiers and pro-government armed militias sexually abused women and girls as young as 12 during home raids and military sweeps of residential areas.

“Sexual violence in detention is one of many horrific weapons in the Syrian government’s torture arsenal and Syrian security forces regularly use it to humiliate and degrade detainees with complete impunity,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

HRW said it does not have evidence that high-ranking officers commanded their troops to commit sexual violence but said it had information indicating that no action has been taken to investigate or punish government forces who did.

Also Friday, Syrian opposition members began a two-day meeting in Turkey to discuss a vision for a post-Assad Syria and steps need to be taken to ensure a transition to democracy. The meeting was headed by the main Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council.

“The international community must take initiative and they must do whatever is necessary to save the civilian population — whether it’s a security zone or a security corridor — whatever it is, it must be done in order to help civilians,” said Mahmoud Osman, an SNC member.

At least 108 people were killed in Taldou, the majority of them women and children

The village of Taldou, near the town of Houla in Syria’s Homs province was the scene of one of the worst massacres in the country’s 14-month-long uprising on Friday.

United Nations observers on the ground have confirmed that at least 108 people were killed, including 49 children and 34 women. Some were killed by shell fire, others appear to have been shot or stabbed at close range.

But at whose hands they died remains a matter of contention. Anti-government activists and eyewitnesses interviewed by a limited number of journalists and human rights groups at the scene point the finger at the Syrian army and the shabiha, a sectarian civilian militia that supports the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The government however denies all responsibility, saying its soldiers were attacked and armed terrorists went on to shoot and stab civilians.

The United Nations has condemned the “indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force”, but Maj Gen Robert Mood, the head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), said “the circumstances that led to these tragic killings are still unclear”.

He told a closed session of the UN Security Council that there is evidence of tank shelling, artillery fire and “physical abuse”. He confirmed that the deaths were from shell shrapnel and gunfire at “point-blank” range, but did not say who the mission thought was responsible for the close-range killing.

Protest attacked

The picture being pieced together by activists, survivors and the limited number of international journalists and human rights organisations in Syria is of an attack that began with the army shelling the town and ended with militiamen killing people house-by-house late into the night.

Reports suggest that at about 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Friday, just after midday prayers, soldiers fired on a protest in Taldou in the Houla area to disperse the crowds.

Some accounts say that opposition fighters then attacked the Syrian army position where the firing was coming from.

According to Syria’s foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi, “hundreds of gunmen” armed with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank missiles attacked soldiers, killing three.

Activists and eyewitnesses say the Syrian army shelled the town, reportedly at first with tank fire then with mortars, in a sustained bombardment that lasted at least two hours.

This tallies with UN accounts of tank and mortar shells in civilian areas. The UN Security Council issued a statement saying that “such outrageous use of force against civilian population constitutes a violation of applicable international law”.

Mr Makdissi said that the army did not send tanks into the village and security forces remained in their defensive positions.

House-to-house attacks

Any civilian deaths, he said, were the result of “armed terrorist gangs” going house to house and killing men, women and children.

But according to activists and eyewitnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch, British broadcaster Channel 4 and others, army shelling paved the way for a concerted ground attack by the Alawite-dominated pro-government militia, the shabiha.

Their reports suggest that men from the shabiha entered people’s houses in army fatigues and either cut their throats or shot them in the head from approximately 16:00 to 01:00 on Saturday morning.

One opposition activist from the area, Hamza Omar, told the BBC: “The shabiha militias attacked the houses. They had no mercy. We took pictures of children, under 10 years [old] their hands tied, and shot at close range.”

If that is the case, it is possible the killers were drawn from a string of largely Alawite villages to the south of Houla region. Fearing reprisals, some residents there have apparently been donating blood to help the approximately 300 injured.

Many of the dead are thought to come from the extended Abdelrazzak family, which has a cluster of houses near to each other in the village.

In an interview with Human Rights Watch, an elderly woman from the family recounted: “I was in the house with my three grandsons, three granddaughters, sister-in-law, daughter, daughter in-law and cousin.

“At about 18:30 we heard gunshots. I was in a room by myself when I heard the sound of a man. He was shouting and yelling at my family. I hid behind the door… They were wearing military clothes.

“After three minutes, I heard all my family members screaming and yelling… As I approached the door, I heard several gunshots. I heard the soldiers leaving. I looked outside the room and saw all of my family members shot.”

‘Heroic Syrian army’

The UN observer mission in Syria is investigating the massacre

These eyewitness accounts appear to be corroborated by video evidence and have also been confirmed by the Syrian government, although they blamed terrorists for the attacks.

“Women, children and old men were shot dead. This is not the hallmark of the heroic Syrian army,” foreign ministry spokesperson Jihad Makdissi told reporters in Damascus.

At a news conference in Moscow with his British counterpart William Hague on Monday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said it was clear the army had used tank shells but not who shot civilians at point blank range.

“We are dealing with a situation where both sides participated in the killings of innocent civilians… this district is controlled by the armed militants and at the same time it’s encircled by the governmental forces and troops,” he said.

Alexei Pushkov, chair of the international affairs committee of the Russian parliament, the Duma, was more explicit: “We have very strong doubts that those people who were shot at point blank [range] and were stabbed, that this was the action of forces loyal to President Assad,” he told the BBC.

“The shelling was probably the responsibility of the troops of Mr Assad, but the stabbing and point blank firing was definitely from the other side.”

The UN’s Maj Gen Mood told the BBC that monitors are continuing their investigations in Taldou to try and uncover the truth about what the Security Council has called an “appalling and brutal crime”.

BEIRUT — Syrian security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands rallying Friday in the northern city of Aleppo, which activists said saw the largest turnout since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 2011.

Thousands of people across the country also staged anti-government rallies in solidarity with Aleppo, where anti-regime sentiment has been on the rise particularly after a raid on dormitories at the city’s main university killed four students and forced the temporary closure of the state-run school earlier this month.

The May 3 raid at Aleppo University was an unusually violent incident for the city, a major economic hub that has remained largely loyal to Assadover the course of the country’s 15-month uprising.

On Thursday, some 15,000 students demonstrated outside the gates of Aleppo University in the presence of U.N. observers, before security forces broke up the protest.

Even bigger numbers took to the streets Friday. Aleppo-based activist Mohammad Saeed said it was the largest demonstration there since the start of the uprising. He said more than 10,000 people protested in the Salaheddine and al-Shaar districts alone and thousands protested in other areas of the city.

“The number of protesters is increasing every day and today saw the biggest protests,” said Saeed, adding that several people were wounded when government forces tear gas and live ammunition to try and disperse the rally.

The head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the protest showed “it’s a real uprising happening in Aleppo these days.”

Friday is the main day of protests across Syria and this week’s demonstrations were dubbed “The Heroes of Aleppo University” in solidarity with the students.

Opposition activists said security forces opened fire in several other locations including the Damascus suburbs and the central city of Hama to disperse protesters and that the regime shelled the town of Rastan, which has been under the control of rebels since January.

The violence comes as the head of U.N. observer team in Syriacautioned that unarmed force alone cannot stop the bloodshed without genuine talks between the two sides that have been locked in a violent conflict for more than a year.

Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, the Norwegian head of the 200-strong observer team, warned Friday that no number of observers can achieve “a permanent end to the violence if the commitment to give dialogue a chance is not genuine from all internal and external actors.” He spoke at a news conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

International powers have pinned their hopes on a peace plan for Syriathat special envoy Kofi Annan brokered in April. The plan paved the way for the U.N. observers, and it calls for a cease-fire and dialogue to stop 15 months of bloodshed.

The U.N. estimated in March that the violence in Syria has killed more than 9,000 people. Hundreds more have been killed since then as a revolt that began with mostly peaceful calls for reform has transformed into an armed insurgency.

Both sides have flouted the cease-fire, raising concerns that the peace plan is ineffective in a conflict where the violence is spinning out of control.

Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for Annan, said in Geneva that the envoy would be visiting Syria soon, but did not give a date.

“We condemn in the strongest terms violence in all its forms by all parties,” Fawzi said. “This must come to an end for any political process to be launched and to have a glimmer of success.”

But dialogue seems a distant hope. The opposition refuses to engage with the regime while the killings continue, and the government brands its opponents as terrorists.

Assad denies that there is a popular will behind the country’s uprising, saying foreign extremists are driving the unrest to destroy the country.

Two main activist groups, the Local Coordination Committees and the Observatory, said Rastan again came under intense shelling as of Friday morning. Videos posted online showed thick smoke and shells slamming into districts in Rastan.

“I am more convinced than ever that no amount of violence can resolve this crisis,” Mood said in Damascus. He also said recent suicide bombs and roadside blasts were alarming. “I am concerned about the incidents where explosives, improvised devices are targeting innocent civilians, innocent people because it is not going to help the situation.”

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he believes that “alarmingly and surprisingly,” al Qaeda must have been behind the massive attack in the Syrian capital last week.

The twin suicide car bombings outside a military intelligence building on May 10 bore the al Qaeda-style tactics seen in neighboring Iraq. Some 55 people died and dozens were injured in the Damascus blasts.

Ban said that al Qaeda’s involvement in the region “has created very serious problems.”

He also noted that there have also been two attacks against unarmed U.N. monitors in Syria. His comments were made to students attending the annual Model U.N. Conference in New York.

News in Syria comes fast and furious. The regime makes claims, the opposition makes claims, Russia makes claims, Iran makes claims, the Saudis make claims, and the media tries to sort it out. It is a challenging, often uncomfortable task.