Britain denounced President Bashar al-Assad’s speech on Sunday calling for a conference of national dialogue to end the Syrian conflict as “beyond hypocritical.”

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad’s first speech to the nation since June was full of “empty promises” and would “fool no one.”

In an address to an ecstatic audience in a Damascus theatre, Assad described the opposition as “slaves” of the West and outlined a reconciliation plan aimed at resolving a civil war which according to the UN has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

He called for a conference of national dialogue to be followed by a referendum on a national charter and parliamentary elections.

Assad also called on foreign powers to end their support for rebels seeking to bring down his regime.

Hague took to Twitter to vent his anger about the speech, writing: “AssadSpeech beyond hypocritical. Deaths, violence and oppression engulfing Syria are his own making, empty promises of reform fool no one.”

Prime Minister David Cameron earlier reiterated his calls for the Syrian leader to stand down.

“My message to Assad is go,” he told BBC TV. “He has the most phenomenal amount of blood on his hands.

01/06/2013

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) answers questions during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, on June 13, 2012. Lavrov was in Tehran for a one-day official visit. UPI 

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept. 8 (UPI) — The U.N. Security Council will be asked to endorse a Syria peace plan later this month that Russia brokered in Geneva, a top Russian official said Saturday.

At a June 30 meeting in the Swiss city, world powers agreed that a transitional government should be set up in Syria to end the violence.

The Security Council will be asked to approve the “communiqué” that came out of that meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrvov told reporters in Vladivostok.

Lavrvov did not mention any details in the plan, but said its implementation did not necessarily mean Syrian President Bashar Assad would have to step down.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad would not be part of the transitional government.

Russia and China have twice vetoed U.N. resolutions critical of Syria, claiming the actions favored the rebels. They deny they support Assad.

Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Lavrvov complained that U.S. sanctions on Syria and Iran “are directly affecting the interests of Russian business, particularly the banks.”

He said Russia did not want any sanctions, and supported a proposed conference of Syrian opposition groups later this month.

08/09/12

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) answers questions during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, on June 13, 2012. Lavrov was in Tehran for a one-day official visit. UPI

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept. 8 (UPI) — The U.N. Security Council will be asked to endorse a Syria peace plan later this month that Russia brokered in Geneva, a top Russian official said Saturday.

At a June 30 meeting in the Swiss city, world powers agreed that a transitional government should be set up in Syria to end the violence.

The Security Council will be asked to approve the “communiqué” that came out of that meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrvov told reporters in Vladivostok.

Lavrvov did not mention any details in the plan, but said its implementation did not necessarily mean Syrian President Bashar Assad would have to step down.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad would not be part of the transitional government.

Russia and China have twice vetoed U.N. resolutions critical of Syria, claiming the actions favored the rebels. They deny they support Assad.

Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Lavrvov complained that U.S. sanctions on Syria and Iran “are directly affecting the interests of Russian business, particularly the banks.”

He said Russia did not want any sanctions, and supported a proposed conference of Syrian opposition groups later this month.

24/08/12

He comes to the Syria conflict with no emotional baggage, is well-respected by all the parties involved and has vast experience in mediating regional conflicts

In this citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012, Syrians carry a wounded child after an air strike destroyed at least ten houses in the town of Azaz on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria.

Half a century ago, in 1962, when I was the Middle East correspondent of the British Sunday newspaper The Observer, I learned that Algeria, following its hard-won independence from France, had sent an ambassador to Cairo and that President Jamal Abdul Nasser had put at his disposal one of King Farouq’s palaces. The ambassador’s name was Lakhdar Brahimi. As I was in Cairo at the time, I decided to call on him.

Major-General Robert Mood, head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

4 July 2012 –

By Salman Shaikh, Special to CNN

Will Kofi Annan’s latest proposal for a political transition end the conflict in Syria? The short answer is no, not in its current form.

Syria is now, in the words of Bashar al-Assad, in a “state of war” as fighting intensifies between government forces and opposition fighters. While the diplomats have talked and talked, Syria has entered the point of no return.

The effects are plain for all to see: a regime increasingly unrestrained in waging war on its own people; a militarized opposition that is more effective and less controllable; and a region, as the downing of the Turkish military plane illustrated, that is more unpredictable and combustible.

It is under these conditions that Annan jettisoned Plan A, which sought to end the violence by placing unarmed U.N. observers in a war zone under the dual authority of the Syrian government and the U.N. Security Council. He now seeks to unite key international players such as Russia, the United States, China and the European Union by proposing Plan B: a Syrian national unity Cabinet that would include government and opposition members and exclude those who would undermine it. (Which is the closest Annan can get, without really saying it, that al-Assad would be excluded in the future government.)

But there is little hope among Syria’s opposition that this will work.

Leaders in the Free Syrian Army have dismissed Annan’s efforts outright as a colossal waste of time, while key figures in the Syrian National Council and other opposition groups remain highly skeptical. They are asking basic unanswered questions: What regime figures would be included in the proposed unity government? What guarantees are there that al-Assad and his family would be excluded? In conversations with those opposition figures, not one person has indicated they would be willing to join such a government. Many, however, have indicated their willingness to join such a government after al-Assad and those orchestrating the killings have been deposed.

Another unanswered question remains the position of Russia and whether it has finally turned against al-Assad. Some believe it might be doing so, especially by showing initial support for Annan’s unity government. But in recent U.S.-Russia meetings, the gap between the two countries has remained wide as Vladimir Putin flatly refuses to discuss a post-Assad scenario as a starting point for a political transition.

Russia still believes a political solution can only be achieved through a Syrian-led dialogue between the regime and the opposition. By contrast, the U.S. has given its support to Annan’s idea as long as, in the words of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “it starts from the basic premise that Assad and his regime must give way to a new democratic Syria.”

There has been much speculation on Russia’s motivation for standing by the al-Assad regime, but the simple fact is that it is not budging — at least not yet.

With the first direct route apparently closed, there is perhaps a second that could tip the balance or at least get Moscow to engage on a post-Assad political transition in Syria.

A much less discussed aspect of the diplomatic impasse has been the ongoing difficulty of forging a credible Syrian opposition platform that binds Syria’s diverse communities and different opposition movements.

The major opposition blocs will be attending an Arab League-sponsored conference in Cairo on Monday and Tuesday to discuss a transition plan for what they consider to be al-Assad’s inevitable ouster. While there are low expectations of the meeting and the fractured Syrian opposition itself, the goal — attempting to unite — should be strongly encouraged.

In many ways, such a platform has been developing despite the continuing dysfunction and shortcomings of the Syrian National Council, which is seen as the leading opposition bloc. The Council has recently been joined by other opposition figures and groups, such as a fledgling National Bloc, in the effort against al-Assad. And the realization that the Council cannot hold sway over all of Syria’s opposition groups — and is unlikely to influence external actors such as Russia — has led to new efforts in Istanbul, Sofia and Cairo to forge a common national platform united around a common national vision.

More on GPS: Circling the wagons on Syria 

The last few months have seen how representatives from Syria’s tribes; some of its minorities, including the leaderships of the Kurds and the Druze; the business elite; and recently exiled religious figures have sought to forge such a common national vision for a future of Syria without al-Assad. These groups have aimed to engage with the Syrian National Council and other established opposition groupings, but not to join them. All remain deeply suspicious of the control that Turkey and the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood have exerted on the opposition movement through the Council, which is based in Turkey. Instead, this diverse group has seen itself as a bridge to uniting Syrians against the al-Assad regime and articulating a vision of a modern, democratic and independent Syrian state after the regime has gone.

The international community and international mediators would do well to remember that it is these efforts to forge national unity that can best lead to a political solution in Syria. Aiming to forge a unity government with a regime that continues to bludgeon its people into submission and will not negotiate in good faith is the wrong approach.

With the situation on the ground spiraling out of control, there is no more time to waste. Faced with a genuine opposition platform and its vision for an independent, democratic Syria, Russia might also be forced to think again. Let us hope so. Only then could a successful Plan B and a political solution take hold.

World powers agreed yesterday on a plan for a Syrian transition government that doesn’t directly address the fate of President Bashar al-Assad.

The parties altered a draft agreement proposed by Kofi Annan, the envoy for the United Nations and Arab League, after Russia objected to language that would prohibit Assad and members of his inner circle from being part of a transitional government. The document also added a Russia-backed provision opposing “further militarization of the conflict,” alluding to Arab nations’ shipments of arms to the opposition.

International efforts to mediate a peace deal have stumbled over whether Assad must leave power before a transition can begin. The communique from foreign ministers in Geneva — which declares a “firm timetable” for actions without any dates or deadlines — may draw scrutiny over whether the U.S. and allies France and the U.K yielded too much to get a transition “road map” embraced by Russia and China.

“As it reads, it seems Washington has made a major concession in that Assad could stay on,”Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “It’s unclear how Assad could be present and create the ‘neutral environment’ outlined in the agreement.”

The Geneva meeting was attended by foreign ministers of the five permanent UN Security Council members — China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. — as well as Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq. Also present were UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and officials from the European Union and Arab League.

‘Legitimate Aspirations’

Their document calls on “all parties” to cease violence in order to begin a “Syrian-led political process leading to a transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.”

At least 104 people were killed in clashes yesterday, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an activist group, adding to the more than 10,000 deaths estimated by the UN since the conflict began 16 months ago. The U.S. blames Assad for much of the bloodshed, while the Syrian regime blames “terrorists,” as it calls rebel fighters.

Before yesterday’s meeting, Annan’s draft had said that a new government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation.”

The revised paragraph said the government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups and shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent.”

‘Some Changes’

At a news conference, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied that the U.S. yielded to Russia’s demands for language that may give Assad leverage to retain power.

The U.S. supported Annan’s original text “but we agreed to some changes that we did not believe affected the substance because, frankly, we read the results to be the same,” she said. “Assad will still have to go. He will never pass the ‘mutual consent’ test, given the blood on his hands.”

Annan made the same point. It’s unlikely Syrians would “select people with blood on their hands to lead them,” he said, saying a Syrian solution requires “clear, irreversible steps.”

Annan said his next step is to engage with all the parties in Syria and that a UN monitoring team, sidelined by threats and violence, will resume its activity when possible. He said he expects to see “real progress” within a year.

‘Mutual Consent’

It wasn’t clear how Annan intends to achieve “mutual consent” for a transitional leadership excluding Assad in that the wording also gives Assad a veto over its makeup. The opposition previously has rejected moves to participate in a government in which Assad retains power.

Clinton said it is incumbent on Russia and China “to show Assad the writing on the wall.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the document doesn’t imply that Assad must go and said Russia will continue to block efforts in the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Syria to force him out. He defended Russia supplying anti- aircraft weapons to the regime while saying those shipping arms to rebel forces are stoking violence.

Even as Lavrov said Russia will press the Syrian government to abide by Annan’s peace plan, his comments reflected the gulf between Russia and the Western and Arab nations seeking Assad’s downfall.

The U.S., the U.K. and France will take the document to a July 6 Paris meeting of the Friends of Syria, the international group supporting the Syrian opposition, and will continue working in the UN Security Council to mandate sanctions, Clinton said. The U.S. is stepping up efforts to get food, drugs and emergency relief to Syrians, she said.

“As long as Assad continues to wage war against the Syrian people — and he himself now calls this a war — the international community must keep ratcheting up the pressure on the regime to halt the violence and do more to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians in need,” Clinton said.

• Martin Chulov in Antakya, Turkey
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 30 June 2012 23.44 BST

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrives at the UN’s crisis meeting on Syria on Saturday. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Before Saturday’s United Nations summit on Syria, some supporters of the country’s opposition had their own plan – of sorts – to stop the unfolding catastrophe. It ignored the ongoing high-stakes diplomacy and any other talk of internationally brokered peace. All-out war, said activists, exiles and guerrillas alike, was now the only way to bring an end to the chaos in Syria.

Talking had done nothing but allow the Syrian regime to buy time and consolidate, the dissidents said. After almost 16 months’ fighting in town squares and on battlefields, it was time to follow through with a momentum that many Syrians in southern Turkey and border areas controlled by rebel forces now feel is with them.

“There is no peace and there is no plan,” said Ahmed Julak, 39, from a hospital bed in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, where he is recovering from a broken leg he sustained while smuggling ammunition into Syria.

“Nobody listened to Kofi Annan [whose plan to demand that both sides to step back from the brink has been stillborn since it was unveiled in April]. Not the regime, and not us. There is no dealing with these people, and that is the truth. And what is a transitional government?” he said, dismissing talk of an internationally backed administration to ease Syria free from autocracy and away from the spectre of war.

“If Assad stays or goes is not the problem. It’s the regime that needs to go. If that doesn’t happen, then no reasonable person can say there has been progress.”

Many opposition followers believe Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is merely a figurehead who Russia could sacrifice as a sign of compromise to the US and Europe, allowing other regime figures to remain entrenched and maintain the status quo. Others dismissed the significance of the UN gathering with a wave of the hand. “We have better things to focus on,” said Houda Idris, an exile from the Syrian port city of Lattakia. “It is getting rid of Bashar and his mafia.”

One man, recovering in hospital from a bullet wound to his kidney, said talks could never advance while Russia held most of the negotiating trump cards. “Impossible,” he said, as he tried in vain to lift his emaciated frame to press home his point. “We will finish what we started.”

Despite an influx of light weapons and an increase in defections from regime security forces, the means to force change still seem limited among the opposition, whose fighters are paying a heavy toll most days and whose backers admit to being fatigued by the relentless upheaval with no end in sight.

In the Syrian village of Qatma, not far from the Turkish border, a family from the town of Houla, where a massacre widely blamed on regime backers took place in late May, has taken refuge.

Mohammed Khiari, a defector, was in the nearby village of Taldou when men who he and others insist were members of the pro-Assad militia, the Shabiha, launched a bloody raid that killed more than 100 people, most of them women and children. He has been in Qatma since the massacre happened, along with defectors and their families from other parts of Syria, all of who seem to have similar stories of depravity and suffering.

“I’ve seen the face of this regime, because I was one of their soldiers,” Khiari said, displaying his military identification which listed him as an officer. “I know what needs to be done to get rid of them. Negotiations to them are a chance to stall. And they show weakness. There is nothing left to do except fight. And we will meet our challenges.”

The defectors sit each night on concrete floors in improvised meeting rooms to discuss how to organise what essentially remains a grassroots uprising that has recently taken on an international dimension.

And in recent weeks a new theme has crept into their discussions. Where basics such as supply lines and evacuations to Turkey once dominated, a new dialogue is taking place – how to prepare for life after Assad and what sort of society might rise from the ruins.

All of the men here have fought against the regime. All have lost family members. How to win justice for the dead, maimed and imprisoned in post-Assad Syria is now central to an emerging internal discussion. Vengeance is a common theme in all the regime hubs; meeting rooms like these, which dot the country – hospitals, refugee camps and frugal, cramped apartments in Turkey that often house dozens of family members.

“I’m not going to say I’m speaking for a grieving mother,” said Idris inside her small flat in Antakya, where she now lives with her two daughters. “But the feeling of loss is very real and so is the need to do something about it. Blood brings blood. The people will take revenge. I’m not going to pretend that they won’t.”

Some war-scarred guerrillas, such as Houla exile Mohammed Khiari, are clearly conflicted by the issue of how to win redress.

“I know personally one of the officers who came with the Shabiha that day. He was responsible and I know where to find him.

“It is better to take him to a court, an international court, and to put him on trial, but this will take a long time and we don’t know whether it’s possible. Revenge is a real issue, of course it is. But we must find appropriate ways to deal with these issues.”

Outside a refugee camp in southern Turkey, Abu Najib, who fled from the town of Jisr al-Shughour two months ago, said how to deal with life after the Assad regime is a difficult issue – almost as difficult as forcing the ruling clan to leave.

“So many people have died and we won’t accept that he and the people around him led us all into this crisis. There will be a price to pay for this, but it should be through a court.”

A second man, Abu Mohammed, spoke up: “In Yugoslavia the regime ran away when it all ended. It will probably be like that here too. There will be some who stay and they will be dealt with. “But look at the international [tribunal] for that crisis. It is still dealing with the issues many years later. Unless Bashar and his gang face war crime charges, the people will never be satisfied.”

Where the UN and the international community may have been seen as ponderous in the Balkans, they are viewed in a worse light through a Syrian opposition lens – impotent.

“What they are talking about [in Geneva] is meaningless,” said Idris. “It won’t change things.”

By ZEINA KARAM

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. has spent months disparaging Russia for blocking strong U.N. action against Syria and standing by President Bashar Assad as his forces lay waste to rebellious cities.

But in many ways, Russia’s stance is convenient for Washington and its allies which have their own reasons for avoiding direct intervention in yet another Arab nation in crisis.

Not the least of them is the impending U.S. presidential election in November. Others are the uncertain outcome of a military commitment and the war-weariness of the U.S. public.

“The fact that Russia is not budging on Syria certainly helps Washington in its efforts to justify its inaction,” said Bilal Saab, a fellow and Syria expert at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

For all the tough rhetoric over the carnage in Syria, Washington and its Western allies remain deeply reluctant to engage in any kind of military action such as the NATO-led mission that helped oust Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.

The American domestic political situation is also a factor. President Barack Obama faces a tough re-election battle, and his people are focused on their economic woes. Many are clamoring for an end to the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan after the American pullout from Iraq and would oppose yet another military adventure.

The U.S. would rather deflect blame for the bloody conflict onto its old Cold War foe.

Russia’s continued support for Assad “is going to help contribute to a civil war,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned last month.

Syria has become one of the bloodiest and murkiest conflicts of the Arab Spring, and world powers have been unable to stop the violence which has so far killed 14,000, according to opposition groups.

The country is a geographical and political keystone in the heart of the Middle East, bordering five countries with which it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel’s case, a fragile truce. Its web of allegiances extends to Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran’s Shiite theocracy.

Many fear a destabilized Syria could send unsettling ripples through the region or lead to a regional war pulling in Iran and Israel.

Syria also has a volatile sectarian divide, making civil unrest one of the most dire scenarios. The Assad regime is dominated by the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, but the country is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.

Tensions over Syria have turned into a proxy confrontation between Washington and Moscow. Officials of the two countries traded harsh accusations last week, charging each other with providing military support to opposing sides of the conflict in Syria.

President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin were meeting in Mexico Monday at the Group of 20 economic meeting to try and bridge differences. But in the best case scenario, the two sides might agree on a transition plan that would end the four-decade Assad family rule, something Moscow has rejected so far.

U.S. and U.N. officials have said that a six-point peace plan brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan was in fact the only plan on the table for dealing with the Syrian crisis for the time being. That plan seemed to be unraveling this week — U.N. observers in Syria announced they were suspending all missions because of escalating violence over the previous 10 days.

The Syrian regime has contributed to the international tension by systematically ignoring initiatives and sanctions, often with the support of Moscow.

Clinton has acknowledged that military intervention faces serious hurdles beyond Russian reticence.

Among those, she said, were Syria’s substantial air defenses, divisions among Arab countries on whether military options should be entertained in Syria, and the danger of Syria’s unrest spiraling into a larger civil war which could spill over Syrian borders.

“We know it could actually get much worse than it is,” Clinton said.

U.S. officials have also cited the risk of a “proxy war” with Syrian ally Iran backing Assad and other outside nations or forces backing insurgent factions. The U.S. is among six world powers engaged in talks with Iran meant to reduce tensions over Tehran’s nuclear activities.

“Obama believes that his strategy for Iran, a far more important issue than Syria for this administration, is working,” Saab said. Obama “does not want to mess it up by fishing in troubled Syrian waters.”

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.