The United Nations said Tuesday that well over 7,500 people have been killed in the brutal Syrian crackdown amid new international demands for the Damascus government to allow humanitarian access.

France urged Russia and China to back a U.N. Security Council resolution on halting the bloodshed and getting rescue aid into protest cities. Russia and China have vetoed two resolutions on Syria, but appear to be softening their stance.

France on Tuesday urged Russia and China to accept a new U.N. Security Council resolution on halting the violence in Syria to allow in humanitarian aid.

"A resolution for a humanitarian ceasefire and access for humanitarian aid in the most threatened areas is under discussion at the Security Council. We can hope that China and Russia will not veto this resolution," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told RTL radio.

Syrian security forces killed 102 civilians across the country on Tuesday, among them 35 in a "massacre" in the central region of Hama, as five regime soldiers were killed in fighting with deserters in the restive southern province of Daraa, activists and a rights group said.

Thirty-seven civilians were killed in the central province of Hama, among them 35 in a massacre in the town of Halfaya, and 50 civilians were killed in the central opposition bastion Homs, among them 26 in the besieged neighborhood of Baba Amr, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.

Syria walked out of a U.N. debate on the human rights situation in the violence-wracked country on Tuesday, while its ally Russia urged Damascus to cooperate with efforts to allow in humanitarian aid.

Syria has been rocked by 11 months of anti-regime demonstrations and a military crackdown against a growing protest and rebel movement that has left more than 7,600 people dead, according to opposition activists.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday called for "change" and "free elections" in Syria, which has been rocked by violent clashes between government forces and rebels.

"Iraq backs change in Syria," Maliki told Saudi newspaper Okaz in an as-yet unpublished interview, excerpts of which were released by his office in a statement.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for the release of hundreds of Bahraini pro-democracy activists arrested after last year's uprising and for all charges against them to be dropped.

"Grossly unfair military and civilian trials have been a core element in Bahrain's crackdown on pro-democracy protests," HRW said. Cases "against everyone convicted on politically motivated charges" should be dropped.

Tunisia is ready to grant asylum to Syrian leader Bashar Assad as part of a negotiated settlement to the crisis, President Moncef Marzouki said in an interview to be published Wednesday.

Marzouki had last week called for judicial immunity for Assad and his family during an international conference on Syria held in Tunis.

State media on Tuesday hailed as a "victory for Syria" the adoption by referendum of a new constitution that ends the ruling Baath party's monopoly on power but which leaves extensive powers in the president's hands.

U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Syria during a special meeting of government ministers in Geneva.

"There must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to end the fighting and bombardments," the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said at the opening of an urgently-arranged debate on Syria at a Human Rights Council meeting.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged Jordan to drop criminal charges against an outspoken former lawmaker who called for a revolt in the kingdom.

The criminal charges against Ahmed Abbadi, "who has peacefully advocated making Jordan a republic violate freedom of expression and should be dropped immediately," the New York-based rights watchdog said in a statement.