New Fighting Reported in Syria, Including Deadly Assault on Palestinian Camp

Ahmad Gharabli/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Syrian rebels standing guard in the northern city of Aleppo on Friday. More Photos �

BEIRUT, Lebanon ? Armed clashes erupted in at least three Syrian cities on Friday amid reports of a deadly mortar attack on a major Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, an event that threatened to draw Syria?s displaced Palestinian population into its civil war.

The new mayhem, reported in Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, came as the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved an Arab League-backed resolution denouncing the Syrian government for the conflict. The vote, which carries no enforcement power, came a day after the resignation on Thursday of Kofi Annan, the special peace envoy from the United Nations and the Arab League, who quit in frustration after six months of what he had characterized as an impossible task.

Russia, the most important foreign backer of the Syrian government, was among those that voted against the resolution, and it blamed Western nations for undermining Mr. Annan by supporting the Syrian insurgency. The Russians also called for an expedited search to replace Mr. Annan and said it was important to maintain a United Nations monitor mission in Syria. The current one expires in little more than two weeks.

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said Russia had done everything possible to support Mr. Annan?s peace plan but opposition forces had refused to negotiate, supported by ?our Western partners, and certain regional states.?

Western nations, led by the United States, have accused Russia of helping to sabotage Mr. Annan?s diplomacy and have questioned the need for a United Nations monitoring presence in Syria if there is no viable peace plan to monitor.

Foreign Secretary William Hague of Britain said on Friday that Mr. Annan?s decision represented ?a bleak moment? for diplomatic efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict. While Britain will intensify its support for the rebels, he said in a BBC radio interview, its help will not involve weapons. ?We are helping elements of the Syrian opposition but in a practical and nonlethal way,? he said.

News agencies in Russia, which has a naval refueling base in the Syrian port of Tartus, reported that three warships with 360 marines aboard had been dispatched to the base, raising speculation that they are planning to evacuate the estimated 30,000 Russian citizens in Syria if the situation there continues to worsen. But the Russian Defense Ministry later disputed those reports, saying there are no plans for the ships to dock in Tartus.

The Defense Ministry statement was ambiguous, however, saying the commanding officers of the ships ?have the full right to carry out a resupply? that involves a stop in Tartus.

As tensions have risen in Syria this summer, there have been several reports that Russia was deploying warships, but each time they have been followed by official denials. Military experts say Russia?s naval base in Tartus is tiny and understaffed, and would be difficult to defend in a conflict.

At the United Nations, the General Assembly vote on the Syria resolution, which was drafted and introduced by Saudi Arabia, a major supporter of the Syrian opposition, passed 133 to 12, with 31 abstentions. But the diplomatic exercise was seen as a largely symbolic move that reflected Arab League frustration over the failure of the Security Council to take more decisive action to halt the 17-month-old Syrian conflict.

In Damascus, the Syrian capital, government officials and rebels reported a mortar attack late Thursday on the Yarmouk Palestinian camp, home to 150,000 people.

Syria?s state-run SANA news agency blamed the attack on ?an armed terrorist group? ? its usual name for foes of President Bashar al-Assad ? and identified 12 people it said had been killed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group based in Britain, said 21 people had died and the origin of the attack was unclear. But if the attack was carried out by the Syrian military, that would constitute a shift on the part of Mr. Assad, who has always sought to portray Syria as the lead defender of Palestinian rights and the vanguard of resistance to Israel.

Activists said footage posted on the Internet showing wrecked buildings and bodies covered in blankets came from the Yarmouk camp, but there was no immediate way of verifying the origin of the footage.

In its account of the attack, SANA quoted Palestinian leaders in the camp as saying that the compass of the Palestinian people ?would ever remain pointing to Palestine? ? apparently an indirect warning to Palestinians to avoid siding with the rebels.

The Syrian Observatory said at least 133 civilians died in fighting Thursday and reported continued clashes on Friday in and around Damascus, the city of Hama further north, and Aleppo, Syria?s largest city and commercial center, which has been the focus of much of the violence over the past few weeks.

Damien Cave reported from Beirut and Ellen Barry from Moscow. Reporting was contributed by Alan Cowell from London and Rick Gladstone from New York.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7aad5e7cf06c6c937ae88addf30bb0bc

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