Syrian military pounds rebel areas, wounded journalists escape

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces shelled an opposition stronghold in Hama province, killing 20 people, on Tuesday and hit rebel-held parts of Homs, activists said, as two wounded foreign journalists trapped in the city were reported to have been smuggled safely to Lebanon.

President Bashar al-Assad sent units of an elite armored division, which is led by his brother Maher, into Homs overnight, activists said. Tanks with the words "Fourth Division Monsters" painted on them moved close to the besieged Baba Amro district.

French journalist Edith Bouvier and British photographer Paul Conroy, both wounded last week in an attack in Baba Amro, were now safe in Lebanon, a diplomat and opposition sources said. It was not clear how they escaped.

In Hama province, security forces bombarded the town of Helfaya, a hotbed of protests in the uprising against Assad.

Activists said the 20 deaths of Sunni Muslim villagers there were among at least 100 killed in the province in the last two weeks in revenge for rebel Free Syrian Army attacks on security forces commanded by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities tightly restrict media access to the country.

Opposition groups say hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded in the siege of Baba Amro and other rebellious districts in Homs, where terrified residents are enduring dire conditions, without proper supplies of water, food and medicine.

Syrian forces on Tuesday launched the heaviest bombardment in their three-week assault on Baba Amro, activists said.

Assad, projecting an aura of normality in a land ravaged by 11 months of conflict over his right to power, decreed that a new constitution was in force on Tuesday after officials said nearly 90 percent of voters had endorsed it in a referendum.

Opposition groups and Western leaders seeking Assad's removal denounced Sunday's vote as a charade that diverted attention from the violence in Homs and elsewhere.

"BARBARISM"

Assad's government had "broken all the limits of barbarism". French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.

"And when I see the Syrian president paraded around this voting station in Damascus for this phony referendum, it makes you deeply indignant," he told RTL radio.

Juppe said he felt "immensely frustrated" at difficulties in obtaining security guarantees to enable wounded civilians and Western journalists to be evacuated from Homs.

American reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in Baba Amro on February 22 in a strike on a house in which Conroy and Bouvier were wounded.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent did manage to evacuate three people from Baba Amro on Monday, but not the foreign reporters, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

The outside world has proved powerless to halt the killing in Syria, where repression of initially peaceful protests has spawned an armed insurrection by army deserters and others.

"As long as we have not halted the massacres, we are impotent, but we are not inactive," Juppe said.

He told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday it was time to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court and warned Assad he would be brought to justice.

Foreign powers have argued over whether to arm Syrian rebels trying to resist Assad's forces, but there is little appetite in the West for any Libya-style military intervention.

Russia and China have used their vetoes to protect Syria from any action by the U.N. Security Council, where Western and Arab powers had sought backing for an Arab League transition plan under which Assad would voluntarily relinquish office.

Qatar joined Saudi Arabia on Monday in advocating arming the Syrian rebels. "We should do whatever is necessary to help them, including giving them weapons to defend themselves," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said in Oslo.

Assad says he is battling a foreign conspiracy featuring "armed terrorist groups" and al Qaeda militants, while pressing ahead with political reforms toward greater democracy.

His opponents scorn his calls for dialogue as meaningless while Syrian security forces are violently repressing dissent.

The Syrian leader says the new constitution will lead to multi-party elections within three months.

The document drops a clause making Syria's Baath party the leader of state and society, allows political pluralism and limits a president to two seven-year terms.

But this restriction is not retroactive, implying that Assad, 46 and already in power since 2000, could serve two further terms after his current one expires in 2014.

The opposition dismisses the reforms on offer, saying that Assad, and his father who ruled for 30 years before him, have long paid only lip service to existing legal obligations.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans, Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny in Beirut; Writing by Alistair Lyon, Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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Syrian army assaults rebel districts

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian troops launched a ground attack in Homs on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to overrun the rebel-held Baba Amro neighborhood that has endured 25 days of siege and fierce bombardment, opposition sources said.

"The army is trying to go in with infantry from the direction of al-Bassel football field and fierce confrontations with automatic rifles and heavy machineguns are taking place there," activist Mohammad al-Homsi told Reuters from Homs.

He said the military had shelled Baba Amro heavily on Tuesday and overnight before the ground attack started.

Another opposition source said hundreds of Free Syrian Army rebels were holding out in the area, situated between Baba Amro and al-Inshaat district, which is also under army siege.

Several Western journalists are trapped in the battered district, although Syrian activists escorted British photographer Paul Conroy to safety in nearby Lebanon on Tuesday in a messy escape in which some of his rescuers were killed.

Reports from Baba Amro could not immediately be verified due to tight government restrictions on media work in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is struggling to repress an almost year-long uprising against his 11-year rule.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Hicham Hassan, could not confirm the assault but said the violence was making the humanitarian situation more difficult.

"This makes it even more important for us to repeat our call for a halt in the fighting," he told Reuters in Geneva.

"It is essential that people who are in need of evacuation -- wounded people, women and children -- that we are able to offer them that with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent."

Food supplies had been delivered to Homs and Idlib on Tuesday but it was hard to distribute aid due to the conditions on the ground, he said.

Activists say hundreds of civilians have been killed in besieged opposition districts of Homs, including at least 20 on Tuesday. Shells and rockets have been crashing into Baba Amro since February 4. Army snipers pick off civilians who venture out.

Syrian troops bombarded the besieged town of Rastan, 20 km (13 miles) north of Homs, and several people were killed when a shell hit a house, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Activists said troops and pro-Assad militiamen had also attacked the town of Helfaya, an opposition stronghold near the city of Hama, detaining people and raiding and burning houses.

Youtube footage posted by activists showed crowds of people in the nearby town of Kernaz in solidarity with Helfaya. Demonstrators danced, waved pre-Baathist era Syrian flags and chanted: "God support your oppressed subjects."

Troops and militiamen launched a security sweep in the eastern Damascus suburb of Harasta, where telephone services have been cut off for the past month, activists said.

The United Nations says Assad's security forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians since the revolt began last March.

"There are credible reports that the death toll now often exceeds 100 civilians a day, including many women and children," U.N. Under-Secretary-General for political affairs Lynn Pascoe told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. "The total killed so far is certainly well over 7,500 people."

Syria's government said in December that "armed terrorists" had killed over 2,000 soldiers and police during the unrest.

DRAFT U.N. RESOLUTION

As world dismay grew over the bloodshed, France said the Security Council was working on a new Syria resolution and urged Russia and China not to veto it, as they have previous drafts.

An outline drafted by Washington focused on humanitarian problems to try to win Chinese and Russian support and isolate Assad, Western envoys said. But they said the draft would also suggest Assad was to blame for the crisis, a stance his longtime ally Russia in particular has opposed.

Asked by a U.S. senator whether Assad could be called a war criminal, Clinton told a Senate hearing: "There would be an argument to be made that he would fit into that category." She added, however, that using such labels "limits options to persuade leaders to step down from power."

Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution on February 4 that would have backed an Arab League call for Assad to step down. China indicated a possible shift late on Tuesday when it told the head of the Arab League it supported international efforts to send humanitarian aid to Syria.

But Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also urged political dialogue in Syria, something ruled out by Assad's opponents while the bloodshed goes on, and Russia has warned against interference in Syria under a humanitarian guise.

Syria's U.N. envoy in Geneva stormed out of the U.N. Human Rights Council after saying other nations must stop "inciting sectarianism and providing arms" to Syrian rebels.

International efforts to halt the violence in Syria have not been helped by disunity among Assad's opponents. The Kuwaiti parliament extended its own recognition on Tuesday to the exile Syrian National Council as "the representative of the Syrian people," but other groups challenge the SNC's legitimacy.

Conroy, who works for London's Sunday Times, was spirited safely out of Homs into Lebanon on Tuesday. "He is in good shape and in good spirits," the newspaper said.

He had been among several journalists trapped in Baba Amro, where Marie Colvin, a veteran war correspondent also with the Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in a bombardment on February 22. Their bodies are still there.

Confusion surrounded the fate of French freelance reporter Edith Bouvier, who was wounded in the same attack. President Nicolas Sarkozy initially said he had been informed that Bouvier had been evacuated, but later said that had not been confirmed.

Activists said Bouvier was back in Baba Amro, along with Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa and French photographer William Daniels, after a failed attempt to smuggle them out.

France's foreign ministry said it was ready to carry out an evacuation but it was waiting for the Assad government to arrange the conditions, notably an immediate ceasefire for Baba Amro.

Meanwhile Kofi Annan, the newly appointed United Nations-Arab League envoy for Syria, said he will discuss the situation with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and member states in New York on Wednesday. He will then go to Cairo for talks with Arab League head Nabil Elaraby.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans, Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Syrian army assaults rebel districts

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian troops launched a ground attack in Homs on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to overrun the rebel-held Baba Amro neighborhood that has endured 25 days of siege and fierce bombardment, opposition sources said.

"The army is trying to go in with infantry from the direction of al-Bassel football field and fierce confrontations with automatic rifles and heavy machineguns are taking place there," activist Mohammad al-Homsi told Reuters from Homs.

He said the military had shelled Baba Amro heavily on Tuesday and overnight before the ground attack started.

Another opposition source said hundreds of Free Syrian Army rebels were holding out in the area, situated between Baba Amro and al-Inshaat district, which is also under army siege.

Several Western journalists are trapped in the battered district, although Syrian activists escorted British photographer Paul Conroy to safety in nearby Lebanon on Tuesday in a messy escape in which some of his rescuers were killed.

Reports from Baba Amro could not immediately be verified due to tight government restrictions on media work in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is struggling to repress an almost year-long uprising against his 11-year rule.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Hicham Hassan, could not confirm the assault but said the violence was making the humanitarian situation more difficult.

"This makes it even more important for us to repeat our call for a halt in the fighting," he told Reuters in Geneva.

"It is essential that people who are in need of evacuation -- wounded people, women and children -- that we are able to offer them that with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent."

Food supplies had been delivered to Homs and Idlib on Tuesday but it was hard to distribute aid due to the conditions on the ground, he said.

Activists say hundreds of civilians have been killed in besieged opposition districts of Homs, including at least 20 on Tuesday. Shells and rockets have been crashing into Baba Amro since February 4. Army snipers pick off civilians who venture out.

Syrian troops bombarded the besieged town of Rastan, 20 km (13 miles) north of Homs, and several people were killed when a shell hit a house, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Activists said troops and pro-Assad militiamen had also attacked the town of Helfaya, an opposition stronghold near the city of Hama, detaining people and raiding and burning houses.

Youtube footage posted by activists showed crowds of people in the nearby town of Kernaz in solidarity with Helfaya. Demonstrators danced, waved pre-Baathist era Syrian flags and chanted: "God support your oppressed subjects."

Troops and militiamen launched a security sweep in the eastern Damascus suburb of Harasta, where telephone services have been cut off for the past month, activists said.

The United Nations says Assad's security forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians since the revolt began last March.

"There are credible reports that the death toll now often exceeds 100 civilians a day, including many women and children," U.N. Under-Secretary-General for political affairs Lynn Pascoe told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday. "The total killed so far is certainly well over 7,500 people."

Syria's government said in December that "armed terrorists" had killed over 2,000 soldiers and police during the unrest.

DRAFT U.N. RESOLUTION

As world dismay grew over the bloodshed, France said the Security Council was working on a new Syria resolution and urged Russia and China not to veto it, as they have previous drafts.

An outline drafted by Washington focused on humanitarian problems to try to win Chinese and Russian support and isolate Assad, Western envoys said. But they said the draft would also suggest Assad was to blame for the crisis, a stance his longtime ally Russia in particular has opposed.

Asked by a U.S. senator whether Assad could be called a war criminal, Clinton told a Senate hearing: "There would be an argument to be made that he would fit into that category." She added, however, that using such labels "limits options to persuade leaders to step down from power."

Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution on February 4 that would have backed an Arab League call for Assad to step down. China indicated a possible shift late on Tuesday when it told the head of the Arab League it supported international efforts to send humanitarian aid to Syria.

But Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also urged political dialogue in Syria, something ruled out by Assad's opponents while the bloodshed goes on, and Russia has warned against interference in Syria under a humanitarian guise.

Syria's U.N. envoy in Geneva stormed out of the U.N. Human Rights Council after saying other nations must stop "inciting sectarianism and providing arms" to Syrian rebels.

International efforts to halt the violence in Syria have not been helped by disunity among Assad's opponents. The Kuwaiti parliament extended its own recognition on Tuesday to the exile Syrian National Council as "the representative of the Syrian people," but other groups challenge the SNC's legitimacy.

Conroy, who works for London's Sunday Times, was spirited safely out of Homs into Lebanon on Tuesday. "He is in good shape and in good spirits," the newspaper said.

He had been among several journalists trapped in Baba Amro, where Marie Colvin, a veteran war correspondent also with the Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in a bombardment on February 22. Their bodies are still there.

Confusion surrounded the fate of French freelance reporter Edith Bouvier, who was wounded in the same attack. President Nicolas Sarkozy initially said he had been informed that Bouvier had been evacuated, but later said that had not been confirmed.

Activists said Bouvier was back in Baba Amro, along with Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa and French photographer William Daniels, after a failed attempt to smuggle them out.

France's foreign ministry said it was ready to carry out an evacuation but it was waiting for the Assad government to arrange the conditions, notably an immediate ceasefire for Baba Amro.

Meanwhile Kofi Annan, the newly appointed United Nations-Arab League envoy for Syria, said he will discuss the situation with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and member states in New York on Wednesday. He will then go to Cairo for talks with Arab League head Nabil Elaraby.

(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans, Erika Solomon and Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Syrian forces fire on Damascus protests

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces opened fire with live ammunition on demonstrators in Damascus overnight, wounding at least four, activists said early Tuesday as unrest continued to spread in the capital.

Demonstrations and clashes with security forces have hit Damascus in the past week, undermining President Bashar al-Assad's argument that an 11-month uprising has been the work of saboteurs and limited mainly to the provinces.

International diplomacy showed no sign of finding a solution, as Western powers and the Arab League prepared a meeting of "Friends of Syria" Friday to pressure Assad to step down, while Russia and China backed Assad's reform plans, derided by Syria's opposition.

"There were hundreds of demonstrators at the main square of Hajar al-Aswad (neighborhood), and suddenly buses of security police and shabbiha (pro-Assad militia) turned up and started firing into the crowd," activist Abu Abdallah told Reuters by telephone.

He said the four wounded were taken to be treated in homes.

Footage posted on YouTube, purportedly taken before the shooting, showed a crowd marching in Hajar al-Aswad carrying placards in support of the besieged city of Homs and singing "Eyes are shedding tears for the martyrs among Syria's youth."

Elsewhere, an activists' group in Kfar Tkharim near the Turkish border said rebels had killed five soldiers and captured two in an ambush on a government column.

Opposition activists said five people had been killed in government shelling of Homs's Baba Amro district Monday, adding to a reported death toll of several hundred since the operation began there on February 3.

Activists in the western city of Hama said troops, police and militias had set up dozens of roadblocks, cutting neighborhoods off from each other.

Ahmad Ramadan, a member of the executive bureau (leadership committee) of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group, said Assad loyalists killed his brother Mahmoud when they hit his car with 27 bullets in his home northern city of Aleppo.

"The regime has been accusing Mahmoud of sending food and medicine to Homs and he was receiving daily threats. He was hit in the head and neck and died immediately," Ramadan told al-Jazeera Arabic news channel.

CALL FOR CEASEFIRE

The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, the only international organization deploying aid workers in Syria, said it was in talks with the authorities and opposition fighters for a cease-fire to bring life-saving aid to civilians.

Diplomatic sources said it was seeking a two-hour cease-fire in hotspots including Homs. Residents there say they are running out of food, water and medicine after weeks of bombardment by Assad's forces.

Western and Arab countries who are seeking Assad's downfall are preparing an explicit gesture of support for his opponents.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the "Friends of Syria" group, meeting in Tunisia, would "demonstrate that Assad's regime is increasingly isolated and that the brave Syrian people need our support and solidarity."

But Assad, who has received support from Russia, China and Iran, is forging ahead with plans to hold a referendum Sunday on a new constitution, which the opposition dismisses as a stunt to cling to power.

"We'll send a clear message to Russia, China and others who are still unsure about how to handle the increasing violence but are up until now unfortunately making the wrong choices," Clinton said in Mexico at a meeting of the "G20" world powers.

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For graphic of Homs http://link.reuters.com/tuc56s

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Germany said the European Union would probably impose more sanctions against Syria in the coming week. Western sanctions have so far had little impact without support from Russia and China for measures at the U.N. Security Council.

SUPPORT

Assad met a senior Russian politician in Damascus Monday, who reiterated Moscow's support for his self-styled reform program and spoke out against any foreign intervention. China accused Western countries of stirring up civil war.

Nevertheless, the Arab League, which has suspended Syria and called for Assad to step down, said there were signs that Russia and China could temper their support for him.

"There are indications coming from China and to some extent from Russia that there may be a change in position," League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told a news conference in Cairo.

Russia and China vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution this month that would have backed an Arab plan calling for Assad to step down. The two countries also voted against a non-binding resolution in the General Assembly last week that backed the Arab plan.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said Moscow would soon offer proposals on humanitarian relief for Syria in the Security Council, but gave few details.

"It seems to me that it would be possible now to take concrete steps aimed at resolving humanitarian issues, relying on the fact that very recently, a few days ago, Damascus allowed the International Red Cross to deliver humanitarian aid to certain regions that ended up in the conflict zone," Vitaly Churkin told state-run Rossiya-24 television in an interview.

"It can be expected that in the coming days, Russia will put forward certain proposals on that account in the Security Council."

Assad's government says it is battling a foreign-backed insurgency by terrorists, and that it is are committed to meeting real demand for democracy with the referendum on a new constitution, leading to multi-party elections within 90 days.

The West and Syrian opposition figures have dismissed the plan as a joke, saying it is impossible to have a valid election amid the continuing repression.

(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon and Dominic Evans in Beirut, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Dave Graham and Andrew Quinn in Los Cabos, Mexico, and Shaimaa Fayed in Cairo; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Iranian navy ships dock at Syrian port: Iranian media

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U.N. General Assembly condemns Syrian leader

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday for a resolution backing an Arab League plan calling for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and strongly condemning human rights violations by his regime.

The vote in the 193-member world body on the Arab-sponsored resolution was 137-12 with 17 abstentions. Several countries complained immediately afterward that they unable to vote due to problems with the U.N.'s voting machine.

Russia and China, who vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council, voted against the General Assembly measure along with North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and others who heeded Syria's appeal to vote "no."

Supporters were hoping for a high "yes" vote to deliver a strong message to Assad to hand power to his vice president and immediately stop the bloody crackdown that has killed over 5,400 people. The measure had over 70 co-sponsors and won support from more than two-thirds of the General Assembly.

"Today, the U.N. General Assembly sent a clear message to the people of Syria: the world is with you," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said in a statement. President Assad "has never been more isolated. A rapid transition to democracy in Syria has garnered the resounding support of the international community. Change must now come."

Saudi Arabia's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi called it "a victory for the Syria people," the U.N. and the Arab League.

"It is a message that the international community is sending loud and clear that the struggle of the Syrian people is not unheard and is not unresponded to," he said, and it reaffirms that the Security Council's failure to adopt a resolution on Syria earlier this month "does not reflect the will and the desire of the international community."

There are no vetoes in the General Assembly and while their resolutions are not legally binding, they do reflect world opinion on major issues.

The transfer of power to Syria's vice president is part of the Arab League plan for a transitional government which was adopted on Jan. 22. It calls for the establishment of a national unity government within two months to prepare for internationally supervised parliamentary and presidential elections.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari warned that the resolution will send a message to extremists that "violence and deliberate sabotage" are acceptable and will lead "to more chaos and more crisis."qqqq

After the vote, a bitter Ja'afari told the assembly: "The Arab Trojan horse has been unmasked today." He called the 22-nation Arab League, from which Syria has been suspended, "broken both politically and morally." He also accused the cosponsors of using the Arab League to internationalize the situation in Syria.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov called the assembly resolution "unbalanced," saying "it directs all the demands at the government, and says nothing about the opposition," according to Russian news agencies.

The resolution condemns "all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and calls upon all parties in Syria, including armed groups, to immediately stop all violence or reprisals."

But Arab countries on Tuesday rejected amendments proposed by Russia, which has been one of Syria's strongest backers since the Cold War when the president's late father, Hafez Assad, led the country.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said his country voted against the resolution because its proposed amendments were ignored.

One called on "all sections of the Syrian opposition to dissociate themselves from armed groups engaged in acts of violence" and urged countries with influence to prevent continued violence by such groups. The other demanded that the withdrawal of all Syrian armed forces from cities and towns — which is called for in the Arab League plan — take place "in conjunction with the end of attacks by armed groups against state institutions and quarters of cities and towns."

Arab sponsors couldn't accept these amendments because they sought to equate the Assad regime's crackdown on civilian protesters with the opposition that rose up to confront the violent attacks, U.N. diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.

Many countries expressed regret that more effort wasn't made to try to incorporate Russia's amendments and obtain a broader consensus.

Churkin stressed that the key to resolving the Syrian crisis is "through an inclusive political process led by the Syrians themselves."

China's deputy ambassador Wang Min reiterated Beijing's opposition to "armed intervention or forcing a so-called regime change in Syria." But he supported Arab calls for an immediate end to the violence.

It was the second time in two months that the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning human rights violations in Syria and demanding an end to the violence.

The latest resolution makes no specific reference to the Arab League's call Sunday for the Security Council to authorize a joint Arab-U.N. peacekeeping force for Syria, or to the possibility of a joint observer mission going to Syria.

It makes five demands — that the Syrian government stop all violence, release all those detained during the unrest, withdraw all armed forces from cities and towns, guarantee peaceful demonstrations, and allow unhindered access for Arab League monitors and international media.

It also asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to consider the appointment of a special envoy to Syria, possibly jointly with the Arab League.

Egypt's deputy ambassador Osama Abdelkhalek, speaking for the Arab group, stressed that Thursday's resolution "is just the start."

He appealed to the Syrian parties, government and international community "to work hand in hand, support the Arab efforts, so that we would be able within very few weeks ... to find one last solution, settlement, to the very serious situation in Syria."

___

Associated Press Writer Anita Snow contributed to this report from the United Nations

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U.N. General Assembly condemns Syrian leader

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday for a resolution backing an Arab League plan calling for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and strongly condemning human rights violations by his regime.

The vote in the 193-member world body on the Arab-sponsored resolution was 137-12 with 17 abstentions. Several countries complained immediately afterward that they unable to vote due to problems with the U.N.'s voting machine.

Russia and China, who vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council, voted against the General Assembly measure along with North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and others who heeded Syria's appeal to vote "no."

Supporters were hoping for a high "yes" vote to deliver a strong message to Assad to hand power to his vice president and immediately stop the bloody crackdown that has killed over 5,400 people. The measure had over 70 co-sponsors and won support from more than two-thirds of the General Assembly.

"Today, the U.N. General Assembly sent a clear message to the people of Syria: the world is with you," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said in a statement. President Assad "has never been more isolated. A rapid transition to democracy in Syria has garnered the resounding support of the international community. Change must now come."

Saudi Arabia's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi called it "a victory for the Syria people," the U.N. and the Arab League.

"It is a message that the international community is sending loud and clear that the struggle of the Syrian people is not unheard and is not unresponded to," he said, and it reaffirms that the Security Council's failure to adopt a resolution on Syria earlier this month "does not reflect the will and the desire of the international community."

There are no vetoes in the General Assembly and while their resolutions are not legally binding, they do reflect world opinion on major issues.

The transfer of power to Syria's vice president is part of the Arab League plan for a transitional government which was adopted on Jan. 22. It calls for the establishment of a national unity government within two months to prepare for internationally supervised parliamentary and presidential elections.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari warned that the resolution will send a message to extremists that "violence and deliberate sabotage" are acceptable and will lead "to more chaos and more crisis."qqqq

After the vote, a bitter Ja'afari told the assembly: "The Arab Trojan horse has been unmasked today." He called the 22-nation Arab League, from which Syria has been suspended, "broken both politically and morally." He also accused the cosponsors of using the Arab League to internationalize the situation in Syria.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov called the assembly resolution "unbalanced," saying "it directs all the demands at the government, and says nothing about the opposition," according to Russian news agencies.

The resolution condemns "all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and calls upon all parties in Syria, including armed groups, to immediately stop all violence or reprisals."

But Arab countries on Tuesday rejected amendments proposed by Russia, which has been one of Syria's strongest backers since the Cold War when the president's late father, Hafez Assad, led the country.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said his country voted against the resolution because its proposed amendments were ignored.

One called on "all sections of the Syrian opposition to dissociate themselves from armed groups engaged in acts of violence" and urged countries with influence to prevent continued violence by such groups. The other demanded that the withdrawal of all Syrian armed forces from cities and towns — which is called for in the Arab League plan — take place "in conjunction with the end of attacks by armed groups against state institutions and quarters of cities and towns."

Arab sponsors couldn't accept these amendments because they sought to equate the Assad regime's crackdown on civilian protesters with the opposition that rose up to confront the violent attacks, U.N. diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.

Many countries expressed regret that more effort wasn't made to try to incorporate Russia's amendments and obtain a broader consensus.

Churkin stressed that the key to resolving the Syrian crisis is "through an inclusive political process led by the Syrians themselves."

China's deputy ambassador Wang Min reiterated Beijing's opposition to "armed intervention or forcing a so-called regime change in Syria." But he supported Arab calls for an immediate end to the violence.

It was the second time in two months that the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning human rights violations in Syria and demanding an end to the violence.

The latest resolution makes no specific reference to the Arab League's call Sunday for the Security Council to authorize a joint Arab-U.N. peacekeeping force for Syria, or to the possibility of a joint observer mission going to Syria.

It makes five demands — that the Syrian government stop all violence, release all those detained during the unrest, withdraw all armed forces from cities and towns, guarantee peaceful demonstrations, and allow unhindered access for Arab League monitors and international media.

It also asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to consider the appointment of a special envoy to Syria, possibly jointly with the Arab League.

Egypt's deputy ambassador Osama Abdelkhalek, speaking for the Arab group, stressed that Thursday's resolution "is just the start."

He appealed to the Syrian parties, government and international community "to work hand in hand, support the Arab efforts, so that we would be able within very few weeks ... to find one last solution, settlement, to the very serious situation in Syria."

___

Associated Press Writer Anita Snow contributed to this report from the United Nations

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