Dozens of deaths reported in Syria crackdown

Activists say at least 41 people have been killed across Syria over the past 24 hours, amid warning by Turkey that President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on dissent threatened to "drag the whole region into turmoil and bloodshed".

The Local Co-ordinating Committees activist network said that at least nine people were killed in Syria on Wednesday, including a child. Of those killed, three died in the central city of Hama and two in the suburbs of Damascus.

The UN says that more than 3,500 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the protests first broke out in Syria in March.



The deaths were reported as Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president, during a speech during a state visit to Britain on Wednesday, accused "the Baath regime continues to use oppression and violence on its own people".

"Violence breeds violence. Unfortunately Syria has come to a point of no return," he said.

Gul's comments came a day after the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Committee condemned Syria for its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in a vote backed by Western nations and a number of Arab states.

Tuesday's resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany, received 122 votes in favour, 13 against and 41 abstentions.

Arab states that voted for it included co-sponsors Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as Egypt.

Russia and China, which vetoed a European-drafted resolution that would have condemned Syria in the UN Security Council last month, abstained.

Syrian rejection

Bashar Jaafari, the Syrian UN ambassador, said the UN resolution had no meaning for his country and portrayed it as a US-inspired political move.

"Despite the fact that the draft resolution was basically presented by three European states, however it is no secret that the United States of America is ... the main mind behind the political campaign against my country," he said.


"This draft resolution has no relevance to human rights, other than it is part of an adversarial American policy against my country."

Jaafari displayed for delegates what he said were documents containing the "names of terrorists arrested while smuggling arms through the borders of Syria".

He said the documents offered clear proof of a US-led plot to topple the government of Assad.

Earlier on Tuesday, Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, called on Assad ay to leave power, accusing him of "cowardice" for turning guns on his own people and warning he risked the same fate as dictators who met bloody deaths.

He insisted Turkey had no intention of interfering in Syria's domestic affairs but said Ankara could not "remain indifferent" to events in a country with which Turkey shares a 910-kilometre border.

Turkey has become increasingly vocal in its criticism of Assad after its diplomatic missions came under attack by pro-government demonstrators in several Syrian cities earlier this month.

Earlier this week, a bus carrying Turkish pilgrims came under fire in Syria as they were travelling back from the hajj, leaving two injured.