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.

How to intervene? There’s no easy answer, but having no answer is even worse. On the political side, we have to assume that Russia will block any intervention resolution in the UN Security Council.  And so the world would need to be prepared to act without one – just as in Kosovo in 1999.

Participation by regional states is important – particularly Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and theUnited Arab Emirates. Given France’s post-imperial history in Syria and Lebanon, it is better to have France (and, for that matter, Britain) on board a liberating intervention.

On the mechanics, it would require suppressing Syria’s offensive capabilities and air defenses and jamming communications. A “safe zone” would need to be established inside the country, which would allow for unfettered distribution of humanitarian relief and create a space where the opposition could organize and receive further training and support (think Benghazi in Libya).

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Ban Ki-moon calls for an expanded observer mission, saying Damascus has failed to adhere to agreed peace plan.

Unverified video shows what appears to be protesters surrounding UN observer vehicles in Damascus on Wednesday

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has called for a UN observer mission in Syria to be expanded, even though he says Damascus has failed to adhere to a ceasefire central to an agreed peace plan.

In a report to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Ban called for 300 unarmed observers to be sent on a three-month mission, and also said it was “critical” for Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, to carry out his commitments.

The council called for Ban to report back when it passed a resolution on Saturday which sent an advanced party of 30 unarmed military observers to Syria.

His report, obtained by the AFP news agency, said that even though Syrian troops have not withdrawn from cities and violence has escalated since the ceasefire began, “an opportunity for progress may now exist, on which we need to build”.

The 300 observers would deploy over several weeks and go to about 10 different parts of Syria to monitor the fragile cessation of hostilities which officially started on April 12.

They would also monitor the implementation of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan, which Syrian authorities have agreed to support.

Ban said the proposed mission would “greatly contribute to observing and upholding the commitment of the parties to a cessation of armed violence in all its forms”.

The report will be discussed by the Security Council on Thursday and diplomats said a resolution allowing the full observer mission could be ready by early next week if there is agreement among the 15 members.

‘Intense shooting’

Meanwhile, a Syrian activist group says clashes between troops and army defectors in an eastern city have left at least one person dead.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Thursday’s clashes in Deir el-Zour also wounded three civilians.

Activists say Syrian troops also shelled rebel-held areas in the central city of Homs and the nearby town of al-Qusair, which borders Lebanon.

The observatory says intense shooting and explosions could be heard in Homs’ al-Qarabis and Jurat al-Shayah neighbourhoods.

Al Jazeera is unable to independently verify reports of violence, as the Syrian government has placed strict restrictions on reporting.

The UN says well over 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising against Assad broke out in March 2011.

Activists says scores have died since the ceasefire started.

Ban said violence “dropped markedly” when the ceasefire began, but that Syria “has yet to fully implement its initial obligations regarding the actions and deployments of its troops and heavy weapons, or to return them to barracks”.

“Violent incidents and reports of casualties have escalated again in recent days, with reports of shelling of civilian areas and abuses by government forces,” he said.

‘Partial’ action

Ban said only “partial” action has been taken on other parts of the Annan plan. “While difficult to assess, it does not amount yet to the clear signal expected from the Syrian authorities,” he said.

The UN secretary-general said it was “critical” for Assad to fully carry out his promise to “cease troop movements towards population centres, cease all use of heavy weapons in population centres, and begin the pullback of military
concentrations in and around population centres”.

At the moment there are six observers in Syria, led by a Moroccan colonel. The full mission would be led by an officer of at least the rank of major general.

Ban said the team has so far been refused permission to go to Homs, with Syrian officials claiming “security concerns”.

The mission went to Deraa, the revolt’s epicentre, on Tuesday, where “it enjoyed freedom of movement” and “observed no armed violence or heavy weapons”.

But Ban confirmed violent incidents when the UN observers went to Arbeen, in the Damascus suburbs, on Wednesday.

“A crowd that was part of an opposition demonstration forced United Nations vehicles to a checkpoint. Subsequently, the crowd was dispersed by firing projectiles,” said the report.

“Those responsible for the firing could not be ascertained by the United Nations military observers.”

One UN vehicle was slightly damaged, but no injuries were observed by the team.

Ban said the new mission, to be known as the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) would include political, human rights, civil affairs, public information, public security, gender and other advisers.

However, it would not carry out humanitarian assistance duties.

* Team of six to deploy on Monday, Annan spokesman says

* To be followed by about two dozen observers

* New U.N. resolution expected to seek deployment of 250

* Need to start political dialogue, spokesman says

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, April 15 (Reuters) - An initial team of U.N. ceasefire monitors is due to arrive in Syria on Sunday evening and will be deployed on Monday in an effort to keep the peace plan on track, the spokesman for international mediator Kofi Annan said.

The six-person advance team will be joined by two dozen more observers in coming days in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Saturday authorising the deployment of up to 30, Ahmad Fawzi said.

However, the Syrian government said on Sunday it had a right to refuse monitors depending on their nationalities. Government spokeswoman and presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban also said the government could not be responsible for the safety of the monitors unless it was involved in “all steps on the ground”. ID:nL6E8FF0SW]

Four days after a ceasefire was meant to come into effect, Syrian government forces shelled the city of Homs on Sunday, resident opposition activists and a rights activist said.

“Of course we are hoping that the process holds together until the observers get on the ground,” Fawzi told Reuters in Geneva.

Annan, joint special envoy of the United Nations and Arab League, brokered a six-point peace plan that was accepted in late March by the government of President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian armed opposition to end 13 months of violence.

However, Syrian troops and their heavy weaponry did not withdraw from towns as required under the plan before the fragile ceasefire took effect last Thursday at dawn, and there have been some reports of violence and shelling since.

The idea is for the unarmed monitors to deploy as soon as possible - provided their security is guaranteed - to start supervising truce compliance while Annan presses ahead with other steps including the start of political dialogue.

IN BLUE HELMETS ON MONDAY

“The first batch of six U.N. observers arrives tonight, they will be on the ground in blue helmets tomorrow (Monday),” Fawzi said.

The six, to be led by a Moroccan colonel, will arrive from New York, he said.

“They will be quickly augmented by up to 25 to 30 from the region and elsewhere,” Fawzi said. He expected the whole advance team to be in Syria “as soon as possible and within a few days at most”.

He declined to identify the Moroccan colonel or name the countries contributing observers from peacekeeping operations already deployed in the region.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking in Geneva on Saturday night after private talks with Annan, said that he would make proposals by next Wednesday regarding the full observer mission, expected to number about 250. Their deployment requires a second Security Council resolution.

The plan by Annan, a former U.N. secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize winner, calls for delivery of humanitarian assistance, the release of prisoners including those involved in peaceful protests, and freedom of movement for journalists to work throughout Syria.

The U.N. estimates Assad’s forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the uprising. Syrian authorities say foreign-backed militants have killed more than 2,500 soldiers and police.

U.N. aid agencies have been largely shut out from Syria - where the International Committee of the Red Cross is the only international agency to deploy aid workers - and the government currently restricts access for most foreign reporters.

“We hope to move forward on the other five points,” Fawzi said. “We need to start the political dialogue. We are continuing to reach out to the opposition forces to get organised so they can form one negotiating party.”

The UN Security Council has passed a resolution authorising the deployment of an advance team of monitors to Syria to oversee the ceasefire there.

A small group of observers has been poised to leave for Syria as soon as a resolution is passed. Correspondents say they could leave within hours.

The vote comes as a BBC reporter says the ceasefire appears to be in danger of collapsing in some parts of Syria.

Activists said violence in the restive city of Homs left several dead.

The resolution was passed unanimously after Russia approved a revised text, which authorised the deployment of a small advance party of observers.

Diplomats had revised a US-proposed draft on Friday to accommodate Russian objections. Russia had vetoed two previous resolutions on Syria.

The resolution calls for the deployment of an advance team of monitors. Additional approval will be required to increase the deployment to 250, the total which Mr Annan is seeking.

Meanwhile the BBC’s Jim Muir in Beirut, who has been monitoring developments in Syria, says that in parts of the country the ceasefire is in danger of collapsing, unless something is done to shore it up.

In Syria’s third biggest city of Homs, government forces have been pounding some quarters with tanks and rocket fire.

Activists say at least 17 people have been killed there and in other incidents, including at a funeral in Aleppo, where several people were reported shot dead by security forces.

ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY and ZEINA KARAM
Published: 55 minutes ago

This image made from amateur video and released by Douma Revolution in Syria Friday, April 13, 2012 purports to show a large anti-government demonstration in Douma, Syria. (AP Photo/Douma Revolotion in Syria via AP video) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL. TV OUT

BEIRUT (AP) - Syrian forces used live fire, tear gas and clubs to beat back tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets across the country Friday in powerful and often jubilant displays of defiance. But a U.N.-brokered truce largely held up without the widespread, bloody offensives that have pushed the nation toward civil war.

Activists said security forces killed at least six people, a lower-than-usual toll. The rallies, described as some of the largest in months, stretched from the suburbs of Damascus to the central province of Hama, Idlib in the north and the southern province of Daraa, where the uprising began in March 2011.

“Come on, Bashar, leave!” the crowd shouted in Daraa, linking arms and stomping their feet to the beat of a drum in a traditional Arab folk dance, according to a video posted online by activists.

The protests might have been far larger had President Bashar Assad’s regime not violated a key aspect of the truce by keeping troops, tanks and snipers in population centers instead of pulling them back to barracks. The presence of plainclothes agents of the feared Mukhabarat security service also had a chilling effect on some of the gatherings in Damascus, the capital, and elsewhere.

The demonstrations were a critical test of the cease-fire, which went into effect at dawn Thursday, because they challenged the government’s commitment to avoid the kind of attacks that have made Syria one of the bloodiest conflicts of the Arab Spring revolts.

Regime forces tried to block protesters from occupying main squares out of fear they will form a sit-in akin to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where hundreds of thousands of people camped out for days in an extraordinary scene that drove longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak from power.

Many world leaders expressed doubt that the truce would endure in a country where 9,000 people have been killed during the 13-month uprising, according to U.N. figures.

“I don’t believe Bashar Assad is sincere,” French President Nicholas Sarkozy told French television station i-Tele on Friday. Observers must be sent to find out what’s happening.”

A team of U.N. observers was on standby to fly into Syria and monitor the truce, but the mission still needed approval from the Security Council. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters the text was more complicated than he expected and that more negotiations would be needed, but he said his government also wanted to act quickly to get observers on the ground.

Russia has been one of Syria’s strongest allies, shielding Assad from international condemnation at the U.N. out of fear that it would open the door to possible NATO airstrikes like those which helped topple Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi.

President Barack Obama has ramped up U.S. aid, including communications equipment and medical supplies, to Syria’s opposition in hopes of accelerating Assad’s downfall of Assad, officials said Friday.

The president signed off on the package last week, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. They declined to outline all forms of American assistance because of the danger anti-Assad protesters have faced over the last year.

Despite the hitches in the cease-fire plan, Syrians poured into the streets Friday. A particularly large protest of many thousands was reported in the sprawling Damascus suburb of Douma, where the regime conducted sweeping arrest raids in the days before the truce.

“It was an example of what a large peaceful protest can be like when the government does not intervene and fire on people,” said local activist Mohammed Saeed.

But there were violent eruptions, as well, as security forces fired live rounds, tear gas and beat protesters with clubs in some areas.

Activist Adel al-Omari said security forces opened fire at protesters in the southern village of Nawa as they gathered in a central square, killing at least two.

“Once they gathered in the village’s main square they came under fire,” al-Omari said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources on the ground, said the dead also included two marchers who were in a crowd trying to reach the main Assi Square in Hama, an opposition stronghold.

Troops and pro-government militiamen known as shabiha beat protesters chanting anti-government slogans as they tried to leave a mosque in the Damascus neighborhood of Qadam, said the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network. In Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, troops fired tear gas at marchers gathering outside the Grand Mosque, the group said.

The LCC put the nationwide death toll at 13 protesters, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least six were killed. Late Friday, both groups said explosions and gunfire were heard in districts of the central city of Homs but that it was not immediately clear what was happening.

The regime restricts access of foreign observers, including journalists, making it difficult to verify death tolls and other claims independently.

The uprising began last year with mostly peaceful protests against the Assad family dynasty, which has ruled Syria for more than four decades. But the government’s violent crackdown fueled an armed insurgency as army defectors and protesters began fighting back.

The rebel Free Syrian Army, which includes army defectors, has said it will observe the cease-fire. But the opposition is not well organized, and there are growing fears of groups looking to exploit the chaos.

Syria’s state-run television said gunmen shot and killed Army Maj. Moussa Tamer al-Youssef while on his way Friday to his unit in Hama, saying the assassination was proof the opposition was not interested in a political solution to the crisis.

The truce is at the center of international envoy Kofi Annan’s six-point plan to stop the bloodshed and launch talks between the regime and the opposition.

Western powers have condemned the violence, but they have few options to help stop it. They have all but ruled out NATO-style military intervention, in part because the conflict is so explosive and could spark a regional war.

Earlier Friday, Syrian troops clashed with rebels near Turkey, raising fears that the conflict could spill across the border. Syria’s state-run news agency said authorities foiled an infiltration attempt by “armed terrorist groups” from Turkey and that the group fled back to Turkey.

Annan’s spokesman played down the incident.

Clashes between Syrian troops and opponents are “not unusual,” Ahmad Fawzi said. “Sometimes, in situations like this, the parties test each other.”

“We hope both sides will sustain this calm, this relative calm,” he added. “We are thankful that there’s no heavy shelling, that the number of casualties are dropping, that the number of refugees who are crossing the borders are also dropping.”

___

Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Karin Laub in Beirut, Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara, Turkey, Bradley Klapper in Washington and John Heilprin in Geneva contributed to this report.

Bashar Assad has reneged on similar commitments. The Western and Arab nations that have pushed for political change in Syria can continue to pursue that objective, but the urgent imperative is an end to the killing.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, seen here in Turkey on April 1, has told Syrian President Bashar Assad of “serious consequences” if his regime doesn’t implement a peace plan proposed by a special U.N. envoy. (AP Photo / April 2, 2012)

(Reuters) - Russia is counting on President Bashar al-Assad keeping his grip on power to see through potential arms contracts worth up to $6 billion (3 billion pounds) (3 billion pounds) and help Moscow reach a record defence export year, according to the CAST defence and security think-tank.

Russia has been Assad’s main defender as Western and Arab countries push for a U.N. Security Council resolution which would call for him to step down.

A veto-wielding permanent member, Russia has already criticised the resolution saying it will lead to civil war.

Having lost tens of billions of dollars in arms contracts with Libya after leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted last year, Moscow is looking to Damascus to maintain a foothold, both politically and economically, in the region.

At stake for Russia, the world’s no. 2 arms exporter, is billions of dollars in potential and current arms contracts with ally Syria, including deliveries on an order of 24 MiG-29M2 fighter jets signed in 2007.

Syria, where Russia maintains a naval base, is also the only ally Russia has left in the Middle East.

“(If Assad goes) Russia will lose everything,” CAST Director Ruslan Pukhov said.

“Syria is one of Russia’s top five clients. Russia already concluded with Syria contracts for $4 billion and has $2 billion more potential contracts on the way,” Pukhov said.

Moscow-based CAST is Russia’s most respected defence and security think-tank. Although it has good relations with the government it is independent.

Tests for the jet fighters began in December of last year, CAST said in a report obtained by Reuters before publication. Damascus was also likely to receive deliveries of Buk anti-aircraft missiles this year, it said.

Russia delivered a record $12 billion in weapons in 2011, CAST said in an annual report released before official data, boosted by sales to embattled Arab leaders and Asian countries eyeing China’s rising military might.

Pukhov said while the funds are crucial for Russia’s defence industry, which Putin built up during his 2000-08 presidency and lacks enough domestic orders to keep it profitable, they have little bearing on Russia’s $1.85 trillion economy.

CAST said Damascus received eight percent of Russia’s 2011 deliveries or nearly $960 million in jet fighter upgrades and anti-ship missile systems.

NO. 2 ARMS EXPORTER

Western U.N. envoys who support the plan calling for Assad’s removal have already condemned arms sales to Damascus, where the United Nations says more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in a 10-month-old crackdown on opposition to Assad’s rule.

In addition to upgrades and repairs to Syria’s MiG-23 and MiG-29 fighter jets last year, it also received three different missile systems, including Bastion anti-ship missile units and another anti-aircraft missile system.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Moscow’s arms exports to Syria need no explanation. While European Union and U.S. embargoes prevent selling arms with Assad’s government, no international treaty with Russia is in place.

Russia has seen several years of record-breaking arms delivery growth, despite criticism that it is failing to deliver the technological benefits of Western suppliers or the low costs of emerging weapons exporter China.

Despite having signed $3.69 billion in new arms contracts in 2011, the total portfolio of Russia’s arms exporting monopoly Rosoboronexport shrank to $35 billion from a size of $38.5 billion in 2010.

“We expect that results of 2012 will show that Russian export of arms will exceed the mark of $14 billion. Looking at the current portfolio…that level of export may be supported for at least another three years,” the report said.

Rosoboronexport makes up around 80 percent of all arms exports in a given year, while nearly 20 independent firms make up the difference with sales of spare parts and upgrades.

Last year the top customer for Russian arms was India, whose arms ties extend to Soviet times and which received $2.5 billion worth of tanks and fighter jets as New Delhi ramps up its defences against China’s growing martial might.

(Reporting By Thomas Grove; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses a news conference at United Nations headquarters, Monday, March 12, 2012.(AP / Richard Drew)

Updated: Mon Mar. 12 2012 13:01:04

The Associated Press

The United States and Russia clashed over Syria at the UN Monday after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the divided Security Council to speak with one voice and help the Mideast nation “pull back from the brink of a deeper catastrophe.”

Washington and Moscow both called for an end to the bloody yearlong conflict — but on different terms, leaving in doubt prospects of breaking a deadlock in the council over a new resolution.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rejected any equivalence between the “premeditated murders” carried by President Bashar Assad’s “military machine” and the civilians under siege driven to self-defence.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Syrian authorities “bear a huge share of responsibility” but insisted opposition fighters and extremists including al-Qaida are also committing violent and terrorist acts.

Lavrov said if the priority is to immediately end any violence and provide humanitarian aid to the Syrian people “then at this stage we should not talk about who was the first to start, but rather discuss realistic and feasible approaches which would allow (us) to achieve the cease-fire as a priority.”

Clinton declared that the Security Council cannot “stand silent when governments massacre their own people, threatening regional peace and security in the process.”

The ministerial debate in the council on challenges from last year’s Arab Spring was dominated by the yearlong conflict in Syria, which has killed over 7,500 people, according to the United Nations.

Secretary-General Ban, who led off the debate, said the conflict has led the entire region into uncertainty and subjected citizens in several cities to disproportionate violence.

Russia, which is Syria’s most powerful ally, and China have vetoed two U.S. and European-backed Security Council resolutions which would have condemned Assad’s bloody crackdown, saying they were unbalanced and demanded that only the government stop attacks, not the opposition. Moscow accused Western powers of fueling the conflict by backing the rebels.

Earlier this month, the United States proposed a new draft which tried to take a more balanced approach, but diplomats said Russia and China rejected it.

Lavrov flew to New York from Cairo, where he had a tense meeting with Arab League foreign ministers. They have endorsed a plan for Assad to hand power to his vice-president, but the Russians are adamantly opposed to any resolution endorsing regime change.

In the end, the Arab League and Lavrov agreed on a plan that the Russia foreign minister said could lead to an early solution of the Syrian crisis: an immediate cease-fire, a clause preventing foreign intervention, assurances about humanitarian aid, an impartial monitoring mechanism and an endorsement of the mission by former UN chief Kofi Annan, the new U.N.-Arab League special envoy to Syria.

Annan left Syria on Sunday without a deal to end the conflict, while regime forces mounted a new assault on rebel strongholds in the north.

On Monday, Annan met Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara and told reporters the diplomatic process would take time.

“This a very complex situation,” said Annan. “We are going to press ahead for humanitarian access, for the killings of civilians to stop, and that get everybody to the table to work out a political solution.”

Clinton told reporters after meeting privately with Lavrov that she appreciated the opportunity to discuss the way forward and pointed out to him “my very strong view that the alternative to our unity on these points will be bloody internal conflict with dangerous consequences for the whole region.”

She said everyone is waiting to hear Annan’s advice on the best way forward, and the U.S. hopes that after Monday’s council session and the recent meetings in Cairo and Damascus “we will be prepared in the Security Council to chart a way forward.”

Lavrov said separate discussions with Clinton and the British and French foreign ministers “indicated that there is a growing understanding of the need not to talk to each other on the basis of take it or leave it, but to bring the positions together and to be guided not by the desire of revenge or punishment, who is to blame … but by the interests of the Syrian people.”

On the sidelines, the Quartet of Mideast peace mediators — the UN, U.S., European Union and Russia — met behind closed doors on the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is witnessing the worst flare-up in violence in more than a year.

The ministerial meeting reviewed efforts to get the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table, but deep divisions remain and there is little hope of a breakthrough.

PARIS (Reuters) - France cannot accept a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria that would assign responsibility for the violence equally to the Syrian government and its opponents, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said on Friday.

The five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Morocco met behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss a U.S.-drafted resolution urging an end to the Syrian government’s crackdown on protesters.

Russia’s response to the new text hinges on whether it believes the text puts enough pressure on the Syrian opposition. Moscow and China have blocked two resolutions, backed by Arab countries and the West, that blamed President Bashar al-Assad’s forces for the violence.

“Our objective is a real resolution,” Valero told reporters. “We do not want a resolution that sends the wrong message because there is no equivalence between the savage repression that Bashar al-Assad’s clan has perpetuated for months and the legitimate desire of the Syrian people for the respect of their rights.

It remains unclear whether the U.S. draft resolution has any chance of success in the 15-nation council, which has been deadlocked over Syria’s military operations against pro-democracy protesters for almost a year.

The U.S. draft, obtained by Reuters, demands “unhindered humanitarian access” and “condemns the continued widespread, systematic, and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities and demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to such violations.”

Valero said Paris wanted a resolution that firmly placed the responsibility for the violence on the Syrian security forces, allowed humanitarian access, promoted a political transition and ensured there would be no impunity for those who repressed the Syrian people.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe will go to New York on Sunday to attend a Security Council ministerial meeting that will discuss the Arab Spring, and is also due to hold talks on Syria.

Carcasses of buildings riddled with bullet holes, flattened cars and mountains of rubble are what’s left of a Homs neighborhood after an intensifying bombardment campaign in Syria that began in early February.

Baba Amr is rapidly disappearing.

“The neighborhood is a disaster,” said Sami Ibrahim, an activist in Homs for the Syrian Network for Human Rights who was contacted by phone. “The streets are demolished. Buildings, even schools have been destroyed. Families have to leave their homes.”

On Sunday, as Syrians went to the polls to approve a new constitution in the rest of the country, Homs came under almost near continuous bombardment by government forces, activists said. Sixty-four people died overnight and into Monday, including three children, all trying to flee the shelling, according to the Local Coordination Committee, another activist network based in Beirut.

Meanwhile, the United Nation’s top human rights body will call for Syria to end all attacks on civilians and allow aid groups unhindered access to Homs and other beleaguered areas, diplomats in Geneva said Monday.

The U.N. Human Rights Council hopes to prompt Syrian President Bashar Assad to end the killings by issuing a resolution Tuesday that condemns “widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities,” according to a draft obtained by the Associated Press.

Britain’s Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne also called for those responsible for serious crimes in Syria to be held accountable. He warned Russia not to veto the resolution. On Monday, Russia, Iran and Cuba were the only countries to openly object to the rights council’s plan to hold the urgent meeting Tuesday.

“I think the Russians are putting themselves on the wrong side of history,” Browne said. “Do they feel morally comfortable with that? What are they proposing to do about it?”

A Syrian official Monday accused the West of trying to destabilize the country for its own gain and warned that militarizing groups seeking to topple the country’s ruler is a big mistake that will backfire. Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said that dialogue among all parties is the only way to end the conflict, which activists groups say has killed more than 8,000 people.

“The Assad army has shown it has a clear intention to destroy Baba Amr and its surroundings from the map, as it represents the Syrian revolution,” said an activist in Homs on her blog site who asked that she not be identified out of fear for her safety. “They have used every possible weapon on our small neighborhood.”

Pictures and videos taken by local activists and citizen journalists from the Syrian Network for Human Rights show very few buildings remaining intact. According to that group, 425 people have been killed and 1,800 injured in Baba Amr in the past 24 days.

Those who have survived are fighting for food and medical help, activists say. There has been very little flour for a week, and water is scarce. Medical supplies are at a minimum and medications rare.

The Syrian government has denied aid workers and the International Committee for the Red Cross from entering Baba Amr to bring in supplies, or to allow evacuation of the wounded since Friday. The Red Cross said a team of its workers was allowed into Homs on Monday.

“We cannot get into the neighborhood to give a single bit of medicine,” Ibrahim said. “And there are only two medical doctors working in the field hospital. The government doesn’t let anyone in or out.”

“We stopped trying to count the number of those killed and wounded,” said Abu Hanin, a citizen journalist/activist from human rights group Avaaz from Baba Amr. “It is very difficult to determine an exact figure, we cannot get to the places of the bombing, we do not know if people were able to escape from the destroyed buildings or if they are under the rubble.”

Over the border in Jordan, thousands of Syrians await word on the fate of their homes and relatives.

“We left because they shot our homes with rockets,” said Raja Juma’a, 25, of Baba Amr, who with her husband and seven children are crowded in Mafraq, a city in northern Jordan now home to many Syrian refugees.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Lynch reported from Amman; Clermont from Berlin.

Clinton blunt with Russia, China over #Syria

Rebels there say government forces killed at least 50 more people Friday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in North Africa, where she used her strongest language yet to condemn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at a conference in Tunis at a conference of world leaders known as “The Friends of Syria.”

The conference was a global gathering of outrage. The result was a new set of demands, the first one being that Assad permit immediate shipments of food water and medicine, or face a world much more angry than it already is.

“If the Assad regime refuses to allow this life-saving aid to reach people in need,” Clinton told the conference, “it will have even more blood on its hands. And so, too, will those nations that continue to protect and arm the regime.”

She was unusually harsh on the Russians and Chinese, blaming them for a share of the violence for their veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned Assad. The secretary called that veto “despicable,” and asked rhetorically, “Whose side are they on”?

Clinton predicted the conference would put new pressure on Assad, but the Saudi foreign minister seemed to issue a pointblank threat. Asked if it was time to arm the Syrian rebels, he replied, “I think it is an excellent (idea) … because they have to protect themselves.”

The conference also marked the debut of the Syrian National Council, a dissident group of exiles asked to form a transitional government. The leader of the group, Burhan Ghalioun, also warned Assad to give up power peacefully — or else, saying in Arabic, “The defenders of the people getting more and more arms. … We are trying to negotiate a solutions, but if that fails, syria will fall into an armed struggle.”