13 Killed in Syria as U.N. Assembly Condemns Crackdown

A key U.N. General Assembly committee on Tuesday condemned the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests, stepping up international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, as a rights group said 13 people were shot dead by regime forces.

A resolution passed by 122 votes to 13 with 41 abstentions at the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee. Syria's U.N. envoy accused the European backers of the resolution -- Britain, France and Germany -- of "inciting civil war."

The resolution "strongly condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities," highlighting the "arbitrary executions" and "persecution" of protesters and human rights defenders.

It joined international calls demanding a halt to the violence.

Russia and China last month vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Assad's crackdown since March, which the U.N. says has left more than 3,500 dead. The two abstained in the latest vote.

"The international community cannot remain silent," said Britain's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant in a debate on the resolution in which he stressed the Syrian government's failure to carry out an Arab League peace plan.

France's envoy, Gerard Araud, said that U.N. condemnation was now "urgent".

"It is urgent because it is a situation that is deteriorating constantly," Syria has "rejected" the Arab League plan and the number of victims is increasing, Araud told the meeting.

Arab nations Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and Qatar were among more than 60 countries to co-sponsor the resolution which again called on the Syrian government to halt the violence.

However, Syria's U.N. envoy, Bashar Jaafari, accused the European nations of conducting a "political, diplomatic and media war".

He said Britain, France and Germany were "part of the escalation of violence in my country" and were "propagating violent sedition" in Syria.

"How can you believe they are not interfering when they are inciting civil war?" said Jaafari, who was given support in speeches by Iranian, North Korean, Venezuelan and Cuban envoys.

"We will not let the former colonial powers interfere in our affairs again," he said, indicating the Assad government would not change its policies.

After Russia and China vetoed the Security Council resolution last month -- insisting it would be used as an excuse to carry out regime change -- Western powers insisted they would return to the U.N.'s supreme body to get condemnation.

The Arab League move to suspend Syria and order sanctions has strengthened the case for action by the Security Council, according to western diplomats.

Egypt, where new unrest is rocking the country, supported the resolution.

Saudi ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi stressed the Arab League efforts to end the violence but pointed the finger at the Assad government when he said "obstacles have been put in place which impede these goals".

He said the international community "must send a message to the Syrian people" with the resolution.

Russia and China abstained in the vote. But Russia defiantly opposes any condemnation in a formal resolution or any talk of sanctions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that outside support for Syria's opposition was creating more unrest throughout the region.

Meanwhile, Syrian security forces cracking down on dissent killed 13 people on Tuesday, including five boys in the flashpoint central province of Homs, a rights group said.

Four boys -- aged 10, 11, 13 and 15 -- were "indiscriminately" gunned down by forces manning a checkpoint in the Hula area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received by Agence France Presse.

Their deaths were also reported by the Local Coordination Committees, a group of activists that organizes anti-regime protests, which listed their names.

A fifth boy, aged six, was killed by security force gunfire in Homs city, along with three other people, including a mentally ill man who was shot in the restive al-Khalidiyeh neighborhood, the Britain-based Observatory said.

A man was also shot by security forces in the Homs town of Talbisseh, and a deserter was killed in the town of Qusayr in the province when regular forces opened fire on him, the watchdog said.

Three brothers were killed in Idlib, near the Turkish border, when security forces fired on their car, the group said, quoting an activist in the northwestern city.

At least five people were wounded when security forces opened fire in the Qusour neighborhood of Homs on Tuesday, and 23 were arrested in raids in other parts of the city, the Observatory said.

In Maaret Numan, north of Damascus, seven people were arrested and two wounded by gunfire when security forces crushed an anti-regime protest.

Three other protesters were wounded in the town of Jassem, south of the capital, when Syrian forces opened fire on a demonstration by parents protesting against the arrests of eight pupils and three teachers.

The latest bloodletting comes as the Arab League, which has suspended Syria from the 22-member bloc, is due to hold on Thursday a new round of crisis talks aimed at ending the violence amid threats it will impose sanctions on Damascus.