The death toll in the Syrian city of Homs passed 100 in the last eight days on Friday as pressure mounted on the UN Security Council to refer the Assad regime to the International Court.
Both Russia and China would oppose any attempts to bring war crime charges against President Bashar al-Assad Photo: Getty images
By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent
6:06PM GMT 11 Nov 2011
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Human Rights Watch accused the government of carrying out a litany of abuses in Homs that amounted to crimes against humanity, from mass torture to the unprovoked slaughter of civilians during the continuing subjugation of the city.
Its report, which concluded that 587 people were killed in and around Homs between mid-April and the end of August alone, comes as the Arab League meets in emergency session on Saturday amid growing calls to suspend Syria.
President Bashar al-Assad last week agreed to accept an Arab League peace plan under which he was meant to withdraw his security forces from the streets and end the killing of civilian protesters, thousands of whom have died since the uprising against his rule erupted in March.
Far from fulfilling his promise, Mr Assad has allowed the bloodshed in Homs – the last Syrian city effectively outside government control – to worsen. At least 10 people were killed in the city yesterday, bringing the death toll in Homs to more than 100 in the past eight days.
Human Rights Watch called on the Arab League to demonstrate its commitment to the Syrian people by sending a powerful message of regional anger to Mr Assad and suspending Syria's membership of the body.
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"Homs is a microcosm of the Syrian government's brutality," Sarah Whitson, the group's Middle East director, said. "The Arab League needs to tell President Assad that violating their agreement has consequences, and that it now supports Security Council action to end the carnage."
The Arab League suspended Libya's membership in February and Saudi Arabia, along with its Gulf allies, favour sanctioning Syria in the same way. But they face stiff opposition from Mr Assad's allies in the bloc, among them Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan.
Observers said the League would probably defer action once again today despite growing discomfort among its members over the bloc's perceived fecklessness.
European Union foreign ministers will also meet next week, with officials saying that the Human Rights Watch could be used to provide further justification for stiffening sanctions against the Assad regime.
"We expect that, at the very least, sanctions will be extended to another 20 or so powerful individuals in the regime and we will be studying further options that will send an unmistakable message to the Syrian government," a European diplomat said.
Although the United States is also likely to extend its sanctions, the international community is as divided as the Arab League over how to respond to the crisis, which has claimed more than 3,500 lives in the past eight months, according to UN estimates.
Both Russia and China, allies of Syria, have blocked a Security Council resolution to impose international sanctions on the regime and it seems likely that both states would oppose any attempts to bring war crimes charges against Mr Assad and his inner circle.
"A Security Council resolution remains a tough prospect but we continue to press Russia and China and there are signs that they may be a little less unyielding in the future," the diplomat said.
According to Human Rights Watch, Syrian security forces have fired anti-aircraft guns into civilian suburbs in Homs. At least 17 people have also been killed while in custody in the city, with several hundred more still missing.
The group documented evidence of widespread torture, with former detainees saying they had been burnt with heated metal rods, subjected to electric shocks and beaten while suspended above the floor.
The brutality has led to some protesters, their numbers reinforced by army defectors, taking up arms to fight back against the security forces, leading to warnings that the situation could spiral into a fully-fledged civil war.
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