UN General Assembly passes Syria resolution

Deutsche Welle, 16 February 2012

The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for an end to violence in Syria and an end to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The United Nations General Assembly has passed an Arab-led resolution condemning rights violations in Syria and calling on President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

The measure would be non-binding and is expected to make little difference on the ground.

The resolution passed 137-12, with 17 abstentions. China and Russia were among the countries their votes against the measure. Both countries vetoed a similar resolution earlier this month at the UN Security Council. Vetoes are not allowed in the 193-member General Assembly.

Killing continues

As the General Assembly convened to discuss Syria, violence on the ground in opposition hotspots around the country intensified. At least 41 people were reportedly killed when regime tanks moved on protest hubs. 

Tanks have been bearing down on
Syrian opposition cities for weeks

Assad's troops pummeled the central city of Homs for a 13th straight day, with 18 people killed in central Hama province and four others dying in the southern city of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported.

The group also said it feared security forces had carried out killings in Daraa province, where dozens of civilians disappeared on Wednesday.

"There are fears regime forces carried out a massacre in Sahm al-Julan," the Britain-based group said in a statement.

"Witnesses said security forces shot at the civilians and then piled them onto pick-up trucks. Their fate is unknown," said the Observatory, which provided the names of 14 of those feared killed.

There were also reports Thursday that the well-known blogger Razan Ghazzawi and rights activist Mazen Darwish had been detained by security forces.

Human rights groups put the cumulative civilian death toll from 11 months of crackdown and conflict in Syria at around 7,000.

Ban condemnation

Earlier Thursday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had called for an urgent end to the "indiscriminate" shelling of civilians in Syria, highlighting the likelihood that the regime had committed crimes against humanity. 

Homs has been under bombardment
for nearly two weeks

"We see neighborhoods shelled indiscriminately, hospitals used as torture centers, children as young as 10 years old killed and abused. We see almost certain crimes against humanity," Ban told reporters in Vienna.

"What is important at this time is that first the Syrian authorities must stop killing their own people," Ban said after meeting Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

International attention continues to focus on Syria away from the United Nations forum, with China announcing that Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun would visit Damascus on February 17 and 18 for talks aimed at ending the violence.

The United States, meanwhile, has announced new sanctions against the Iranian intelligence ministry, claiming it has supported the crackdown on dissent in Syria.

dfm/rc (AFP, dpa)

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