UN assembly condemns Syria crackdown

The United Nations General Assembly has voted 137 to 12 to approve a non-binding resolution calling for an immediate halt to the Syrian government's crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

The vote on Thursday followed another day of violence as opposition activists said at least 22 people had been killed in a continuing military assault on protest hubs.

A prominent blogger and other leading activists were also arrested on Thursday, just hours before the UN vote on the crisis.

China, Russia and Iran were among the nations that opposed the text submitted by Egypt and other Arab states that condemned "widespread and systematic violations of human rights in Syria" and called for the Syrian president to abide by an Arab League plan for him to relinquish power.

Seventeen members of the 193-nation body abstained from voting on the resolution.

Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the UN, said that his country had voted against the resolution because it felt it was one-sided and did not apportion blame for the violence on the armed opposition in the same way as it does on the government.

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

Wang Min, China's representative, said that the resolution amounted to undue interference in the affairs of a sovereign state, a position echoed by Bashar Jaafari, the Syrian representative to the UN.

The United Nations, Jaafari added, was in danger of being used by "some member states" as a way to provide cover for "armed terrorist groups."

Homs assault continues

President Assad's forces attacked the central city of Homs for a twelfth straight day on Thursday, while 18 people were killed in central Hama province and four others in the southern city of Deraa, activists reported.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said: "Syrian government forces seem to be on the offensive, pushing back into areas where the [opposition] Free Syrian Army (FSA) had taken control in the past few weeks.

"They have been conducting severe seizures and bombardments in many areas in the country: Hama, Homs and suburbs of Damascus, and this morning in Deraa in the south."

There was no comment from Syrian authorities, who tightly restrict media access to the country.

The assault comes a day after Assad promised that a referendum on the new draft constitution will be held later this month. The opposition, however, has said that it rejects any political moves while attacks continue against protesters

Aljazeera