August 3, 2012
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The United Nations General Assembly reprimanded Syria for its use of heavy weaponry against its civilians in a largely symbolic vote that comes as relief agencies warn of a growing humanitarian catastrophe inside the Arab country.
The U.N. resolution condemns Syria's use of heavy weapons in Aleppo, Damascus and other cities. It calls for implementation of a six-point international peace plan that calls for a political transition away from President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
General Assembly resolutions, while they carry weight as an expression of world governments' views, are nonbinding. Friday's vote—which was adopted with 133 votes in favor, 12 against and 31 abstentions—seemed only to underscore the perceived inefficacy of international efforts to resolve Syria's crisis. It came one day after Kofi Annan, the six-point plan's lead messenger, said a deadlocked U.N. Security Council contributed to his decision not to continue his role as envoy to Syria.
The resolution's text, written by Saudi Arabia, was weakened several times before it its passage, diplomats said, reflecting the continuing battles within the Security Council. Permanent Security Council member Russia has taken a strong anti-Western stance while supporting its historic ally Syria. Along with China, it has vetoed Security Council measures against Mr. Assad three times
Also this week, Mr. Assad has refocused efforts to prolong his regime's survival through a strengthened financial relationship with Russia, a move likely to increase pessimism over the possibility of finding a peaceful solution to Syria's conflict.
A delegation of top Syrian economic officials said on Friday in Moscow that they were negotiating a deal with Russia to exchange excess Syrian crude oil for Russian diesel, which is vital for the government's ability to continue its military campaign.
There were conflicting reports over whether such a deal had been signed. Syria's deputy prime minister told journalists in Arabic—his native language—that negotiations were continuing. Later, speaking in Russian, he said a deal had been completed. The Russian government declined to comment.
If successful, this financial arrangement would represent a severe puncture in U.S. and European sanctions against Syria, which are designed to deprive Damascus of foreign currency and fuel.
Inside Syria, fighting continued in Aleppo and Damascus. In the southern town of Busra al-Hareer, at least 16 people have died since Thursday as a result of firing from helicopter gunships, according to two residents reached by telephone. Those killed were members of the same family, including two children, who were hiding in the basement of an apartment building that has become a bomb shelter for the community.
An estimated 1.5 million Syrians have been internally displaced from their homes inside Syria or sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to a U.N. refugee agency report published on Friday. In addition, approximately 1.5 million people are in need of urgent food aid inside Syria, according to a separate report issued this week by the World Food Program.
Families that haven't been able to escape conflict zones say they are being squeezed by a regime desperate to flush out insurgents hiding in residential neighborhoods and seeking to punish those suspected of harboring them.
In Homs, which is near the Lebanese border and the site of some of the worst civilian casualties in the past year, an estimated 800 families are still living in the partially destroyed town, despite daily shelling by government forces for almost two months.
People are running out of drinkable water and food, said Abu Rami, a 25-year-old member of the local resistance committee interviewed by telephone. Men from the town are afraid that if they attempt to bring supplies though the army cordon and checkpoints they will be arrested or shot, he says.
The International Red Cross said shelling has kept its Syrian workers from bringing food and medical supplies to certain areas of Homs, including the historic old town. So far, they have distributed food packets to feed 11,000 people displaced by the fighting in Homs, said Cecelia Goin, an ICRC official responsible for Syria.
In New York, Syrian and Russian envoys lashed out at the U.N. resolution, pointing out that it was drafted by Saudi Arabia, a leader among outside nations in arming Syrian rebels.
"It is a strange paradox that the sponsoring states of the resolution, under combating armed conflict, have played a major role by providing weapons to terrorist groups in Syria," said Bashar Ja'afri, Syria's ambassador to the U.N.
He said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, another backer of the Syrian opposition, are despotic oligarchies, and neither could "in any shape or form be considered an oasis of democracy or of human rights."
Russia voted against the resolution. "Behind the facade of humanitarian rhetoric, the resolution hides a blatant support for the armed opposition," said Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin.
The Saudi draft initially called on nations to individually impose sanctions and also referred to an Arab League call last year for Mr. Assad to step down. That language was removed, replaced with a "welcome" for Arab League decisions that the resolution didn't spell out.
The final resolution deplored the failure of the Security Council to act, a tacit swipe at the Chinese and Russian vetoes there. The language was rare, with officials saying they couldn't recall previous cases in which the Assembly openly criticized the Council so harshly.
"This is a tough resolution," Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador, told reporters after the vote. "The fact that 133 members of the United Nations voted in favor of it shows the revulsion at what is happening in Syria held by the majority, the vast majority, of members of the United Nations."
The attacks in the town of Busra al-Hareer that allegedly killed sheltering family members appeared to be part of an continuing government offensive in the same area. Earlier this week, army units attacked a neighboring town, Sheik Maskeen, seeking a group of army defectors who had tried to take shelter there, according to local activists. The army units attacked and destroyed a school that had been turned into a field hospital, the local activists said. At least 20 people were killed in the fighting, according to the U.K.-based opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The death tolls couldn't be independently confirmed. The government hasn't commented on the allegations of civilian casualties.
In the northern city of Aleppo, where government forces have battled rebel units for days, army units continued to shell the Salaheddin neighborhood, where rebels have found a haven, according to rebel fighters and activists, amid clashes in other parts of the city of more than 2 million people.
One civilian was killed at dawn Friday after helicopters were shooting on the village of Mahdoum, in the Aleppo suburbs, according to the Observatory.
In the Damascus area, government forces shelled the village of Jdeida Artouz, in the vicinity of a key air force base, where they have been battling armed insurgents since yesterday.
On the southern outskirts of the capital, the government shelled the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp overnight Thursday, according to the Observatory.
Regime forces and rebel fighters were also clashing in the Tadamon neighborhood on the southern edge of the capital, resulting in several casualties.
Like every Friday since the start of the popular uprising last spring, an estimated thousands of people across the country took to the streets after the noon prayer to protest against the government.
Forces loyal to the regime attempted to break up and prevent crowds of people from gathering in both large cities and smaller hamlets, activists said. However, in areas under the control of the Free Syrian Army, those rebel fighters protected the demonstrators, residents said.
—James Marson and Rima Abushakra contributed to this article.
By MARGARET COKER and JOE LAURIA
The U.N. resolution condemns Syria's use of heavy weapons in Aleppo, Damascus and other cities. It calls for implementation of a six-point international peace plan that calls for a political transition away from President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
General Assembly resolutions, while they carry weight as an expression of world governments' views, are nonbinding. Friday's vote—which was adopted with 133 votes in favor, 12 against and 31 abstentions—seemed only to underscore the perceived inefficacy of international efforts to resolve Syria's crisis. It came one day after Kofi Annan, the six-point plan's lead messenger, said a deadlocked U.N. Security Council contributed to his decision not to continue his role as envoy to Syria.
The resolution's text, written by Saudi Arabia, was weakened several times before it its passage, diplomats said, reflecting the continuing battles within the Security Council. Permanent Security Council member Russia has taken a strong anti-Western stance while supporting its historic ally Syria. Along with China, it has vetoed Security Council measures against Mr. Assad three times
Also this week, Mr. Assad has refocused efforts to prolong his regime's survival through a strengthened financial relationship with Russia, a move likely to increase pessimism over the possibility of finding a peaceful solution to Syria's conflict.
A delegation of top Syrian economic officials said on Friday in Moscow that they were negotiating a deal with Russia to exchange excess Syrian crude oil for Russian diesel, which is vital for the government's ability to continue its military campaign.
There were conflicting reports over whether such a deal had been signed. Syria's deputy prime minister told journalists in Arabic—his native language—that negotiations were continuing. Later, speaking in Russian, he said a deal had been completed. The Russian government declined to comment.
If successful, this financial arrangement would represent a severe puncture in U.S. and European sanctions against Syria, which are designed to deprive Damascus of foreign currency and fuel.
Inside Syria, fighting continued in Aleppo and Damascus. In the southern town of Busra al-Hareer, at least 16 people have died since Thursday as a result of firing from helicopter gunships, according to two residents reached by telephone. Those killed were members of the same family, including two children, who were hiding in the basement of an apartment building that has become a bomb shelter for the community.
An estimated 1.5 million Syrians have been internally displaced from their homes inside Syria or sought refuge in neighboring countries, according to a U.N. refugee agency report published on Friday. In addition, approximately 1.5 million people are in need of urgent food aid inside Syria, according to a separate report issued this week by the World Food Program.
Families that haven't been able to escape conflict zones say they are being squeezed by a regime desperate to flush out insurgents hiding in residential neighborhoods and seeking to punish those suspected of harboring them.
In Homs, which is near the Lebanese border and the site of some of the worst civilian casualties in the past year, an estimated 800 families are still living in the partially destroyed town, despite daily shelling by government forces for almost two months.
People are running out of drinkable water and food, said Abu Rami, a 25-year-old member of the local resistance committee interviewed by telephone. Men from the town are afraid that if they attempt to bring supplies though the army cordon and checkpoints they will be arrested or shot, he says.
The International Red Cross said shelling has kept its Syrian workers from bringing food and medical supplies to certain areas of Homs, including the historic old town. So far, they have distributed food packets to feed 11,000 people displaced by the fighting in Homs, said Cecelia Goin, an ICRC official responsible for Syria.
In New York, Syrian and Russian envoys lashed out at the U.N. resolution, pointing out that it was drafted by Saudi Arabia, a leader among outside nations in arming Syrian rebels.
"It is a strange paradox that the sponsoring states of the resolution, under combating armed conflict, have played a major role by providing weapons to terrorist groups in Syria," said Bashar Ja'afri, Syria's ambassador to the U.N.
He said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, another backer of the Syrian opposition, are despotic oligarchies, and neither could "in any shape or form be considered an oasis of democracy or of human rights."
Russia voted against the resolution. "Behind the facade of humanitarian rhetoric, the resolution hides a blatant support for the armed opposition," said Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin.
The Saudi draft initially called on nations to individually impose sanctions and also referred to an Arab League call last year for Mr. Assad to step down. That language was removed, replaced with a "welcome" for Arab League decisions that the resolution didn't spell out.
The final resolution deplored the failure of the Security Council to act, a tacit swipe at the Chinese and Russian vetoes there. The language was rare, with officials saying they couldn't recall previous cases in which the Assembly openly criticized the Council so harshly.
"This is a tough resolution," Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador, told reporters after the vote. "The fact that 133 members of the United Nations voted in favor of it shows the revulsion at what is happening in Syria held by the majority, the vast majority, of members of the United Nations."
The attacks in the town of Busra al-Hareer that allegedly killed sheltering family members appeared to be part of an continuing government offensive in the same area. Earlier this week, army units attacked a neighboring town, Sheik Maskeen, seeking a group of army defectors who had tried to take shelter there, according to local activists. The army units attacked and destroyed a school that had been turned into a field hospital, the local activists said. At least 20 people were killed in the fighting, according to the U.K.-based opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The death tolls couldn't be independently confirmed. The government hasn't commented on the allegations of civilian casualties.
In the northern city of Aleppo, where government forces have battled rebel units for days, army units continued to shell the Salaheddin neighborhood, where rebels have found a haven, according to rebel fighters and activists, amid clashes in other parts of the city of more than 2 million people.
One civilian was killed at dawn Friday after helicopters were shooting on the village of Mahdoum, in the Aleppo suburbs, according to the Observatory.
In the Damascus area, government forces shelled the village of Jdeida Artouz, in the vicinity of a key air force base, where they have been battling armed insurgents since yesterday.
On the southern outskirts of the capital, the government shelled the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp overnight Thursday, according to the Observatory.
Regime forces and rebel fighters were also clashing in the Tadamon neighborhood on the southern edge of the capital, resulting in several casualties.
Like every Friday since the start of the popular uprising last spring, an estimated thousands of people across the country took to the streets after the noon prayer to protest against the government.
Forces loyal to the regime attempted to break up and prevent crowds of people from gathering in both large cities and smaller hamlets, activists said. However, in areas under the control of the Free Syrian Army, those rebel fighters protected the demonstrators, residents said.
—James Marson and Rima Abushakra contributed to this article.
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