UN to Vote on Syria Resolution

Posted February 3rd, 2012 at 7:10 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

The United Nations Security Council says it will vote Saturday on a draft resolution on Syria — as the death toll continued to mount in the embattled nation.

Russia has threatened to veto earlier versions of the resolution and the Obama administration has been pressing it to back a softened version condemning the violence in that country.

Human rights activists said shelling by Syrian armed forces has killed more than 100 people in the city of Homs. The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights said Friday hundreds more have been wounded.

Opposition activists said tens of thousands of people took to the streets in cities and towns across the country to mark the 30th anniversary this week of a bloody crackdown on the city of Hama.

Amnesty International says the February 1982 siege – ordered by the father of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people.

Video posted on the Internet claims to show Friday's marches in Homs and Damascus, as well as some in the Idlib region. Another video clip showed a mortar round exploding in a residential area of Homs Thursday.

More than 300 Syrians were killed nationwide in the last week. Much of the violence has occurred near Damascus as government troops drove the rebel Free Syrian Army out of the city's eastern suburbs during several days of heavy fighting.

The Syrian government accuses armed terrorists of driving the anti-Assad revolt and killing 2,000 security personnel. The United Nations estimated the death toll from the 11-month opposition uprising and the government crackdown hit 5,400 last month. It has since stopped updating the figure because of difficulties in obtaining information.