UN panel condemns Syria for crackdown

The UN General Assembly's human rights committee condemned Syria for its eight-month crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in a vote backed by Western nations and a number of Arab states.

The resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany, received 122 votes in favour, 13 against and 41 abstentions.

Arab states that voted for it included co-sponsors Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as Egypt.

Russia and China, which vetoed a European-drafted resolution that would have condemned Syria in the UN Security Council last month, voted against it.

Bashar Ja'afari, Syrian UN ambassador, said the resolution had no meaning for Damascus and portrayed it as a US-inspired political move.

"Despite the fact that the draft resolution was basically presented by three European states, however it is no secret that the United States of America is ... the main mind behind the political campaign against my country," he said.

"This draft resolution has no relevance to human rights, other than it is part of an adversarial American policy against my country," he added.

Ja'afari displayed for delegates what he said were documents containing the "names of terrorists arrested while smuggling arms through the borders of Syria." He said the documents offered clear proof of a US-led plot to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey toughens stance

Turkey's prime minister that Syria's president must step down over the country's crackdown on dissent, ratcheting up the pressure on the increasingly isolated Bashar Assad.

Turkey's call came as Syrian activists reported that 16 people - including four children - were killed on Tuesday.

"For the welfare of your own people and the region, just leave that seat," Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said in a televised speech.

He reminded Assad of the bloody end of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and those of past dictators, including Adolf Hitler.

"If you want to see someone who has fought until death against his own people, just look at Nazi Germany, just look at Hitler, at Mussolini, at Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania," he said. "If you cannot draw any lessons from these, then look at the Libyan leader who was killed just 32 days ago."

Outrage over crackdown

World leaders are turning on Assad in quick succession. The military crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising against Assad's regime has killed nearly 4,000 people.

Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh reported from Amman that there were reports of a heavy military presence in Homs on Tuesday.

The Syrian military is using tanks to shell residential areas and firing on people in the street, she said. Violence was also reported in Hama, while police reportedly rounded up people in a series of mass arrests in the southern city of Deraa.

The Local Coordination Committees, a key activist network, and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said four children, between the ages of 10 and 15, were killed by gunshots fired at random from a military checkpoint near the town of Houla in the restive Homs province. A fifth person was killed by security forces in the district of Khaldieh, the groups said.

The LCC said Syrian forces backed by tanks and armoured vehicles stormed the area of Houla and were besieging the district of Bayada in Homs, a hotbed of dissent against President Assad's regime.

Syria places severe restrictions on the work of journalists and bans most foreign journalists from the country, making confirmation of events on the ground difficult.

Erdogan's warning came the day after Syrian soldiers opened fire on at least two buses carrying Turkish citizens, witnesses and officials said, apparent retaliation for Turkey's criticism of Assad, whose military crackdown on an 8-month-old uprising against his rule has killed nearly 4,000 people.

"To protect travellers, especially those returning from the hajj, is a country's honour," Erdogan said, referring to the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Erdogan's call signals a definitive end to Turkey's once-close ties to the Assad regime. Turkey was an important trade partner for Syria, and Erdogan had cultivated a close friendship with Assad. But Turkish leaders have grown increasingly frustrated with Damascus over its refusal to halt the crackdown on the opposition protests.

Turkey takes lead

Turkey has allowed Syrian refugees and military defectors to take refuge on its soil, and Syria's political opposition has used Turkey as a place to meet and organise.

Saudi Arabia, which has also criticised the crackdown, announced on Tuesday that one of its citizens, Hussein bin Bandar bin Khalaf al-Anzi, was killed in Homs while visiting relatives Monday. A government statement on the Saudi Press Agency demanded an explanation from Syria on the circumstances of his death and said the Saudi government regarded the incident with grave concern. It did not provide further details or say how he was killed.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency said security forces on Monday carried out a "qualitative" operation in the Bayada district of Homs in which they killed four terrorists and confiscated their weapons. It said a "top terrorist" nicknamed Bandar was among them.

It was not immediately clear if the man referred to by SANA was the Saudi man. But Syria's Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the Syrian government, said a Saudi was among gunmen killed by security agents in Homs. The paper said the Saudi was of Syrian origin, dismissing media reports that he was killed while on a visit to family in Homs.

Relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia are already tense. Last week, angry pro-Assad protesters attacked the Saudi Embassy in Damascus after the Arab League suspended Syria's membership in the bloc over its failure to abide by an Arab peace plan to end the bloodshed.

Syria's uprising has grown increasingly violent in recent months. Army defectors who sided with the revolt have grown bolder in recent weeks, fighting back against regime forces and even attacking military bases - raising fears of a civil war.

Source: Agencies