As many as 22 people have been killed and scores of others have been injured in intensive shelling of the Baba Amro neighborhood in Homs, Al Arabiya reported on Monday citing Syrian activists.

“It is the most intensive shelling on Baba Amro since the start of the protests,” one witness told Al Arabiya by phone.

Military helicopters are taking part in the shelling of Baba Amro, which caused a number of residential buildings to collapse, Syrian activists said.

“Seven residential buildings collapsed as a result of the Syrian intensive shelling of Homs,” an activist at the Local Coordination Committees told Al Arabiya. “Homs is witnessing a real war,” he said.

Syrian army deserters destroyed a military control post in the northeast overnight, killing three officers and capturing 19 soldiers in the process, as Western powers vowed to seek new ways to punish Damascus amid growing outrage after Russia and China blocked a U.N. resolution condemning Syria.

The attack happened in the village of al-Bara in the Idlib region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday, adding that none of the army deserters involved was killed.

The regular army post was completely destroyed, AFP reported citing the London-based group.

The news is the latest sign of growing unrest within the ranks of the Syrian forces, as outrage grows in Syria and in the West over the regime’s bloody crackdown on opposition protests.

Western powers vowed Sunday to seek new ways to punish Damascus amid growing outrage after Russia and China blocked a U.N. resolution condemning Syria for its deadly crackdown on protests.

The vetoes wielded by Beijing and Moscow at the U.N. Security Council on Saturday handed President Bashar al-Assad’s regime a “license to kill” according to the opposition.

Double veto
The rare double veto also drew international condemnation, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling it a “travesty” and vowing to push for new sanctions on Syria.

“Those countries that refused to support the Arab League plan bear full responsibility for protecting the brutal regime in Damascus,” a forceful Clinton told a news conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Sofia.

Faced with a “neutered Security Council” she promised to redouble efforts outside of the U.N.

“We will work to seek regional and national sanctions against Syria and strengthen the ones we have,” Clinton added,

Echoing Washington’s sentiments, France said Europe would strengthen sanctions against Damascus.

“Europe will again harden sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime. We will try to increase this international pressure,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.

He also said France would “help the Syrian opposition to structure and organize itself.”

Russia defended its U.N. veto, saying Western powers had refused to reach a consensus.

“The authors of the draft Syria resolution, unfortunately, did not want to undertake an extra effort and come to a consensus,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov wrote on Twitter.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov are preparing to visit Damascus on Tuesday, amid reports that the mission could try to push Assad to quit.

“Russia strongly intends to achieve a rapid stabilization of the situation in Syria through the rapid implementation of much-needed democratic reforms,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

China defends U.N. veto
China’s top newspaper on Monday defended Beijing’s rejection of the U.N. resolution, saying Western campaigns in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq showed the error of forced regime change.

The commentary in the People’s Daily, the top newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, was Beijing’s clearest defense of its decision to join Moscow at the weekend in vetoing a draft United Nations resolution that would have backed an Arab plan urging Assad to quit after months of bloodshed, according to Reuters.

The commentary suggested that Chinese distrust of Western intervention lay behind the veto.

“The situation in Syria continues to deteriorate and numbers of civilian casualties keep rising. Vetoing the draft Security Council resolution does not mean we are giving free rein to letting this heart-rending state of affairs continue,” said the commentary in the paper, which echoes government thinking.

“Currently, the situation in Syria is extremely complex. Simplistically supporting one side and suppressing the other might seem a helpful way of turning things around, but in fact it would be sowing fresh seeds of disaster,” said the paper.

In March, China abstained from a Council vote that authorized Western military intervention in Libya. That resolution became the basis for a NATO air campaign that led to the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi, despite misgivings from Beijing and Moscow about the expanded campaign, which they said went beyond the resolution.

“Libya offers a negative case study. NATO abused the Security Council resolution about establishing a no-fly zone, and directly provided firepower assistance to one side in the Libyan war,” said the People’s Daily Commentary.

It also cited Iraq and Afghanistan in its case against the Syria resolution.

“The calamities of Iraq and Afghanistan should be ample to wipe clear the world’s eyes. Forceful prevention of a humanitarian disaster sounds filled with a sense of justice and responsibility,” said the paper.

“But are not the unstoppable attacks and explosions over a decade after regime change a humanitarian disaster?” it said.

Meanwhile U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said Sunday the United States could take covert action to help oust Assad, without using U.S. troops.

Gingrich, who is struggling to keep up with frontrunner Mitt Romney in the Republican race, told the CBS program: “Face the Nation” that Washington should act to help remove the Syrian leader blamed for a deadly crackdown on opponents.

“I think there are a lot of things we could do covertly in terms of supplying weapons, supplying -- helping people in the region supply advisers,” the former House speaker said.

The Russian and Chinese vetoes came hours after the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) reported a “massacre” overnight Friday in the central flashpoint city of Homs with more than 230 civilians killed during an assault by regime forces.

On Sunday, activists reported more shelling in the city, with at least 56 civilians and 28 regular army troops killed the day after 48 people were reported dead.

The weekend death toll was one of the bloodiest since the uprising against Assad’s regime erupted almost 11 months ago.

Opposition groups say at least 6,000 people have now been killed.

Growing fear
The second U.N. double veto in four months also fuelled fears among Syrian activists of a new surge of violence that would once again target Homs.

“The SNC holds Russia and China accountable for the escalation of killings and genocide, and considers this irresponsible step a license for the Syrian regime to kill,” it said in a statement.

In Libya, crowds of Syrians chanting anti-Russian slogans entered Moscow’s Tripoli embassy and replaced the Russian flag with the new Syrian flag while hundreds protested outside the Russian embassy in Beirut.

And Turkish police fired tear gas to disperse protesters seeking to storm the Syrian consulate in Istanbul.

Iran, however, welcomed the veto on the resolution condemning its ally Syria and accused the Security Council of attempting to interfere in the country’s internal affairs

Assad’s troops shelled Homs overnight Friday, killing at least 260 civilians, the SNC said, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 100 women and children were among its toll of 237 dead.

The tolls could not be independently confirmed. Damascus denied responsibility, blaming the deaths on rebels seeking to swing the U.N. vote.

The U.N. resolution -- approved by 13 of the 15-member Security Council -- was proposed by European and Arab nations to give strong backing to an Arab League plan to end the crackdown.

On Sunday, League chief Nabil al-Arabi said the bloc would press on with mediation efforts to find a political solution and avoid foreign intervention in Syria.

Syrian government mouthpiece Tishrin called the veto “a catalyst” and said it would help accelerate reforms in the country.

Tunisia urged other Arab nations to follow its lead after it said on Saturday it was expelling Syria’s ambassador and withdrawing its recognition of the Assad government.





(Al Arabiya)