UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT: The U.N. Security Council condemned Wednesday Syrian President Bashar Assad’s deadly crackdown on protests and called for those responsible for violence to be held “accountable.”
A council presidential statement agreed after weeks of often-acrimonious talks said the 15-nation body “condemns the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities.”

Lebanon disassociated itself from a formal statement agreed by the other 14 members of the council. A Lebanese envoy said the Western-drafted statement would not help the situation. Statements are meant to be unanimous, meaning Lebanon could have blocked it, but by simply disassociating itself Beirut allowed the statement to pass.
European powers, backed by the United States, had led a campaign for a Security Council pronouncement on the repression of the protests that erupted in mid-March. China and Russia had threatened to veto any formal resolution and the statement was the first council action, despite the worsening violence.

“The Security Council calls on the Syrian authorities to fully respect human rights and to comply with their obligations under applicable international law. Those responsible for the violence should be held accountable,” the text read.
Washington in particular hardened its stance against Assad Wednesday, saying the United States viewed him as the cause of instability in the country.

“We do not want to see him remain in Syria for stability’s sake and, rather, we view him as the cause of instability in Syria,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing, toughening the U.S. position on the Syrian leader who has launched military assaults against unarmed protesters.

While repeating the Obama administration’s call for Assad to stop the violence, release thousands of detainees and make way for a democratic transition, Carney said that the White House was also looking for more ways to squeeze Damascus.

“We will certainly continue to look at ways to take further steps to put pressure on the regime to end its violence. And we think, frankly, that it’s safe to say that Syria would be a better place without President Assad,” he said.
The Syrian government blames armed terrorist groups for most killings in the 5-month-old revolt, saying more than 500 soldiers and security personnel have died.
Opposition and human rights groups say more than 1,600 civilians have been killed.

Syrian forces continued their offensive on Hama Wednesday with tanks storming the city under heavy shelling, taking over a main square and cutting off electricity, water and phone lines on the fourth day of the operation.
“Hama is being collectively punished for its peaceful protests calling for the downfall of Bashar Assad,” said Suheir Atassi, a prominent pro-democracy activist. Like many others Syria-based activists, Atassi has gone largely into hiding and communicated via email. “The Syrian regime is committing crimes against humanity. Where are the free people of the world?” she asked.

At least three tanks took up positions in Hama’s central Assi Square, which in recent weeks had been the site of carnival-like demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of protesters calling for the downfall of President Assad’s regime.

A religiously conservative city about 210 kilometers north of the capital with a history of dissent, Hama had largely fallen out of government control since June.
But Syrian security forces backed by tanks and snipers launched a ferocious military offensive that left corpses in streets Sunday, tightening their siege on Hama and sending residents fleeing for their lives. The death toll since Sunday has reached around 100, but the exact figure is difficult to verify.

The regime may be thinking that regaining control of Hama will blunt the uprising, which is in its fifth month and has so far proved remarkably resilient. Many Syrian protesters said they expect Assad to face the same fate as Mubarak, ousted in a popular uprising and put on trial in the Egyptian capital Wednesday.

“Assad’s forces and death squads took advantage of the world and media’s preoccupation with Mubarak’s trial to storm and massacre Hama once again,” said Atassi. “But soon we will see him [Assad] behind bars in a Syrian trial and he will be tried by the free people of Syria.”

Activists reported a new military push into Hama early in the day, with fresh explosions, fierce shelling by tanks and machine gun fire heard in many parts of the city. Clouds of smoke hung over many of its rickety apartment buildings.
“We are being subjected to shelling, machine gun fire, snipers fire, everything you can think of,” said activist Omar Hamawi by phone, adding the shelling was mostly targeting Al-Hader neighborhood.
Activists and residents said military sweeps, raids and door-to-door arrests continued in many other parts of the country Wednesday.

Some 200 tanks were surrounding the eastern oil-rich city of Deir al-Zour, apparently awaiting orders to go in, according to Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The observatory also reported the arrest of tens of people in the district of Khaldiyeh in central Syria’s city of Homs. The area witnessed large demonstrations of more than 25,000 people calling for toppling the regime.

Also Wednesday, some 50,000 people marched in the funeral of a man who was allegedly killed under torture by security forces after detaining him last week.
Syria has banned independent media coverage and has prevented most foreign journalists from entering the country, making independent assessments of the events nearly impossible.