UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon told reporters in Austria that crimes against humanity had almost certainly been committed by the regime of Syrian president Bashar Assad on Thursday, shortly before the the 193-nation UN General Assembly in New York passed a non-binding resolution condemning the regime and endorsing an Arab League plan calling for him to abdicate in favor of a transitional government, a measure vetoed in the Security Council by Russia and China on 4 February. The vote passed with 137 votes in favor, 17 abstentions and 12 against, including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. "Today the UN General Assembly sent a clear message to the people of Syria - the world is with you," US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said. "An overwhelming majority of UN member states have backed the plan put forward by the Arab League to end the suffering of Syrians. Bashar Assad has never been more isolated."
"We have deep concerns vis-a-vis the real intentions of the countries that have co-sponsored this draft, particularly that these countries are leading a political and media aggression against Syria," said Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari. Those countries "all media, financial and political support to the armed terrorist groups and securing them coverage in international fora."
Meanwhile, troops loyal to the regime launched fresh attacks against opposition strongholds in the southern city of Daraa on Thursday, while keeping up a steady bombardment of Homs and Hama.
Elsewhere, it has emerged that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has continued to supply diesel fuel to Assad’s regime, despite Western sanctions and the growing international consensus.
"The aggressions against Syria are continuing," Chavez said in an address last month. "It's the same formula they (the West) used against Libya - inject violence, inject terrorism from abroad and later invoke the United Nations to intervene."
Meanwhile, on Israel’s southern border, the Muslim Brotherhood has warned that the government it has recently come to dominate will review the 1979 peace treaty with Israel if the US cuts financial aid to Cairo over a crackdown on democracy promoting NGO’s, including the arrest of several US citizens.
“We [Egypt] are a party [to the treaty] and we will be harmed so it is our right to review the matter," Essam El Erian, a senior Brotherhood leader, told Reuters. "The aid was one of the commitments of the parties that signed the peace agreement so if there is a breach from one side it gives the right of review to the parties."
