Syria Opposition Meets as U.N. Slams New Violations

Exiled opposition groups tried to forge a common vision for a transition in Syria as they met Monday in Cairo while the U.N. human rights chief accused the regime and the opposition of "serious" violations.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay also charged that weapons supplied to both the government and opposition were escalating the conflict, telling reporters in New York that "further militarization" must be avoided.

She spoke as at least 30 people were reportedly killed in new bloodshed across Syria.

Meanwhile, opposition figures met behind closed doors in Cairo to chart a common vision after criticizing a transition blueprint agreed by the major powers at the weekend.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, who chaired the two-day meeting attended by around 250 opposition figures, urged the factions "not to waste this opportunity" and to "unite."

Arabi also stressed the need for "a pluralist democratic system that does not discriminate between Syrians."

Nasser al-Qudwa, deputy to U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan, echoed Arabi's call, telling the opposition to "unify your vision and your performance."

"This is not a choice, but a necessity if the opposition wants to gain the trust of its people in Syria," Qudwa told the meeting which was also attended by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iraq and Kuwait.

In Syria, the death toll rose again amid new reports of clashes between troops and rebels and shelling of rebel-held regions and districts across the country.

"The provision of arms to the Syrian government and to its opponents is fueling the violence," Pillay told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council.

"Any further militarization of the conflict must be avoided at all costs," she said.

While Pillay did not name countries, Russia and Iran are key suppliers to President Bashar al-Assad's government.

The Gulf states, notably Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have given weapons to the increasingly well-armed opposition.

Pillay said the government and opposition were carrying out "serious" new rights violations including attacks on hospitals and renewed an appeal for the council to refer the conflict to the International Criminal Court.

And she told the council that the violence, now in its 16th month, was becoming "increasingly sectarian," while hundreds of people remain trapped in Deir Ezzor, in the east, and in the Old City district of Homs "because of the increasing use of heavy weaponry, shelling and ongoing armed clashes."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that more than 16,500 people have been killed in violence since the uprising against Assad's rule broke out in March last year.

On Monday, the army kept up its bombardment of rebel neighborhoods of the central city of Homs as violence killed at least 30 people across the country, the watchdog said.

An activist in Homs told AFP via Skype that many civilians remained trapped in the shelling of the Jurat al-Shiah, Khaldiyeh and Old City neighborhoods of Syria's third-largest city.

"Many neighborhoods of Homs are still under siege, and it is really hard for us to get food or medicines in," said Khaled al-Tellawy.

"Field doctors are amputating the limbs of the injured because they have no equipment to treat them with, and they can't be smuggled out."

Rebel fighters and activists based in Syria said they were boycotting the Cairo meeting, denouncing it as a "conspiracy" and criticizing the agenda which they said rejects calls for military intervention.

The statement, signed by the rebel Free Syrian Army and "independent" activists, said the meeting serves the interests of the Syrian regime's allies Russia and Iran.

It also slammed the meeting for "ignoring the question of buffer zones protected by the international community, humanitarian corridors, an air embargo and the arming of rebel fighters."

World powers meeting in Geneva at the weekend agreed a transition plan for Syria, in a compromise with Russia and China, that was branded a failure by both the opposition and Syrian state media.

The Geneva plan did not make any explicit call for Assad to cede power, as urged by Western governments, after Russia and China insisted that Syrians themselves must decide how the transition takes place.

The opposition Syrian National Council said on Sunday that "no initiative can receive the Syrian people's backing unless it specifically demands the fall of Bashar al-Assad and his clique."

Meanwhile Assad, whose regime describes armed insurgents as "terrorists", issued three new "counter-terrorism" laws on Monday, the official SANA news agency said, with one legislation targeting state employees.