Syrian troops raid Damascus outskirts for defectors

UN Assembly condemns crackdown Syrian troops Tuesday stormed areas on the outskirts of the capital Damascus in a search for army defectors, activists based in Beirut have told news agencies. The move by the Syrian army came after defectors a week ago attacked a base of the Syrian airforce intelligence.          
Meanwhile, sound of heavy machine gun fire was heard across the area of Douma, near Damascus, Syrian activist Omar Ildibi said.
He added that Syrian security forces, loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad, were seen arriving in buses to the area, a move Idlibi described as "a prelude to a storm" the area.
The attack came few hours after Syria's envoy to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari slammed a draft resolution submitted by Germany to the General Assembly's human rights committee, which strongly condemned the eight-month-long crackdown on pro-democracy protestors which the UN says has far killed 3,500 people.
“This has been tabled for the first time not with the aim of defending and bolstering human rights in Syria, rather this was in the context of declaring a political and media war on my country,” said Jaafari, speaking in Arabic.
“It is a declaration of war that aims to affect the independence of our political decision-making and stops us from moving ahead in our national political agenda, which is absolutely opposing the agendas of these states. That is considered interference in our affairs and in the internal affairs of others in the region. This is a war that is not suitable to be declared against us under the roof of this important organization, which should defend the rights of sovereignty, territorial integrity and political stability of its members,” he said.
“We advise these states to review policies and laws and urge their citizens to criticize their governments to stop the duality and hypocrisy and interference in the internal affairs of member states under weak and fabricated excuses.”
“A proper title for the resolution should be ‘The illness of Syrianophobia’ not ‘The situation of human rights in Syria’,” added Jaafari.
Syria has promised the United Nations that it would halt military operations against civilians and implement political reforms. But U.N. officials say Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has failed to keep any of his promises.
The draft resolution says the committee “strongly condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities, such as arbitrary executions, excessive use of force and the persecution and killing of protesters and human rights defenders.”
It also condemns “arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill treatment of detainees, including children” and demands an immediate end to all such violations.
German Ambassador Peter Wittig urged the General Assembly’s human rights committee to vote for the resolution.
“This draft is a joint cross-regional, one-off effort to address the immediate crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic. It is driven by the conviction that the General Assembly and the 3rd Committee cannot and should not remain inactive in the face of the current systematic violations of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” he said.
“In view of the sponsors, it is important to support the strong and remarkable stance taken by the League of Arab states in this regard and, in particular, to support its efforts to bring about an immediate end to the violence in the country,” added Wittig.
Following is a copy of the draft resolution, as received by Al Arabiya news agency:
The General Assembly,
Guided by the Charter of the United Nations;
Reaffirming the purposes and principles of the Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relevant international human rights treaties, including the International Covenants on Human Rights;
Recalling Human Rights Council resolution S-16/1 of 29 April 2011 and also recalling Human Rights Council resolution S-17/1 of 22 August 2011, which established an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law since March 2011 in the Syrian Arab Republic, and regretting the lack of cooperation of the Syrian authorities with the commission of inquiry;
Welcoming all efforts made by the League of Arab States to address all aspects of the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, and the steps undertaken by the League of Arab States to ensure the implementation of its Plan of Action, including those aimed at ending all human rights violations and all acts of violence;
Expressing concern about the continued lack of commitment by the Syrian authorities to fully and immediately implement the Plan of Action of the League of Arab States of 2 November 2011;
Welcoming the decisions of the League of Arab States on the developments of the situation in Syria of 12 and 16 November 2011;
Expressing deep concern about the ongoing human rights violations and use of violence by the Syrian authorities against their population;
Reaffirming that all States Members of the United Nations should refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations;
1. Strongly condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities, such as arbitrary executions, excessive use of force and the killing and persecution of protesters and human rights defenders, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, including children;
2. Calls upon the Syrian authorities to immediately put an end to all human rights violations, to protect their population and to fully comply with their obligations under International Human Rights Law and calls for an immediate end to all violence in the Syrian Arab Republic;
3. Calls upon the Syrian authorities to implement the League of Arab States’ Plan of Action in its entirety without further delay;
4. Invites the Secretary General of the United Nations, in accordance with his functions, to provide support, if requested, for the League of Arab States’ observer mission in the Syrian Arab Republic, consistent with the League of Arab States’ decisions of 12 and 16 November 2011.
5. Calls upon the Syrian authorities to comply with Human Rights Council resolutions S-16/1 and S-17/1, including by cooperating fully and effectively with the independent international commission of inquiry.