Rebel positions shelled despite plea from UN

A DAY after the UN General Assembly called on Syria’s government to halt military operations against rebel strongholds, opposition activists reported that key districts of Homs had been hit by mortars and rockets.

Shells were said to be targeting the Bab Amr, Inshaat, Bayada, and Khaldiya neighbourhoods. Homs activist Hadi Abdullah said the barrage was the heaviest in the last 14 days. Rebel-held villages in the southern province of Deraa also, purportedly, came under attack.

After Muslim noon prayers, thousands of Syrians were said to have rallied against the regime in traditional protest hubs and the capital’s district of Mezze where regime opponents demonstrated for the first time last Friday.

The local co-ordination committees said that 24 people were killed across the country, including 12 army deserters executed in the town of Jassem in Deraa province. Syrian television reported that oil pipelines were sabotaged in the Homs area.

The adoption of the resolution of the 193-member assembly by 137 members, to 12, with 17 abstentions, has not altered the situation on the ground. Russia and China voted against the measure, based on a resolution vetoed by them in the UN Security Council. Moscow and Beijing argue that the resolution does not reflect reality because regime forces, but not rebels, are asked to halt violence and withdraw from residential areas. Russia and China also reject the provision calling on president Bashar al-Assad to delegate power to a deputy, arguing that this amounts to “regime change”. Chinese deputy foreign minister Zhai Jun has been holding talks with the Syrian government in Damascus in an attempt to end the crisis.

Following a meeting with British premier David Cameron in Paris, French president Nicolas Sarkozy urged the fractured Syrian opposition to unite. “We cannot bring about a Syrian revolution . . . if [revolutionaries do] not make an effort to rally together and organise so that we can better help them.” He said, however, that “the revolution will not be brought about from outside, it will be brought about from inside.” Mr Cameron announced that Britain is sending food rations for 20,000 people and medical supplies for those affected by fighting.

A meeting on February 24th in Tunis of the “Friends of Syria” group, supporting the opposition, will be attended by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and European and Arab foreign ministers.