Syria’s Aleppo battered ahead of UN vote

Shells rained down on rebel positions in Aleppo on Friday ahead of a UN vote to deplore both the Syrian regime’s use of heavy arms and world powers for failing to agree on steps to end the conflict.
The official SANA news agency said the army and police killed 17 “terrorists” in Aleppo, the commercial capital which the regime and rebels have been battling for control of since July 20.
Six civilians were killed in Damascus as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad moved on opposition enclaves, day after shelling killed 21 civilians at the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in the capital, a watchdog said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said another three civilians were killed in Houla, a central town where at least 108 people were massacred at the end of May, triggering international outrage.
Despite the violence, new weekly anti-regime protests were held across Syria in solidarity with the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, which troops have also pounded for weeks.
Activists were still counting the toll from Thursday, one of the bloodiest days in the uprising, when Kofi Annan quit as international envoy for Syria complaining his peace plan never received the backing it deserved.
The Observatory said more than 179 people were killed — 110 civilians including 14 children, 43 soldiers and 26 rebels.
Dozens more civilians and rebels were killed in Al-Arbaeen, a besieged district of the central city of Hama, it said, adding it was hard to establish what had happened as communications were cut.
“The number of martyrs and wounded is not known as bodies were left lying in the streets, regime forces preventing residents from helping the wounded and burying the dead,” said the opposition Syrian National Council.
The bloodshed mounted ahead of a UN General Assembly vote on a Saudi-drafted resolution that condemns Russia and China for blocking tougher action against Damascus at the UN Security Council.
But Arab nations have dropped an explicit demand for Assad to quit in an attempt to secure as large a majority as possible.
Explaining his decision to resign as UN and Arab League envoy, Annan voiced regret at the “increasing militarisation” of the nearly 17-month conflict.
The former UN secretary general also hit out at “continuous finger-pointing and name-calling” at the Security Council, which he said had stalled coordinated action to stop the violence.
“I did not receive all the support that the cause deserved,” Annan said. “The increasing militarisation on the ground and the lack of unanimity in the Security Council fundamentally changed my role.”
But Annan predicted Assad would go “sooner or later,” and did not rule out his successor having more luck or success, despite his warning there was “no Plan B.”
On Friday, the Russian foreign ministry said “a worthy candidate” to succeed Annan should be urgently found because “in the developing situation, keeping a UN presence in the country acquires special significance.”
Meanwhile, protesters in Aleppo took to the streets on Friday to demand death for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad even as violence raged between regime forces and rebels, an AFP journalist and rights watchdog said.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in the al-Shaar neighbourhood of the country’s economic capital, chanting: “The people want the execution of Bashar!” and “The people want freedom and peace,” an AFP reporter saw.
“We go down the street with a single objective: the liberation of the country,” said 20-year-old protester Abu Ahmed.
“Today you can take to the streets. Before there were shabiha” pro-regime militiamen, he said, adding: “For 20 years we supported the military, but in fact this army is against us.”