Dubai: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad Tuesday announced a May 7 parliamentary election amid a fierce assault on opposition enclaves in the north with the city of Idlib bearing the brunt of the armed forces battering.
Opposition activists reported heavy shelling by army tanks and artillery both in areas around Idlib in the north and around Homs.
Arab League chief Nabeel Al Arabi said the regime's killing of civilians amounts to crimes against humanity and called for an international inquiry.
He said that it would not be ethical or moral to allow those behind the killings in the cities of Homs and Idlib to get away.
At least 48 persons were reported killed in violence across Syria on Tuesday, including 25 members of the security forces, as a pro-government daily said the regime had captured the rebel city of Idlib.
The United Nations said that it would soon deploy human rights monitors in countries bordering Syria to collect eyewitness testimony on "atrocities" committed in the country.
Annan optimistic
The May 7 elections would be the third time a legislative vote has taken place in Syria since Al Assad came to power in 2000, but the first under a multi-party system as authorised under the new law.
In Ankara, UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan said he was expecting a response from Al Assad later yesterday to "concrete proposals" to halt Syria's bloodshed and Russia stepped in with a proposal for international observers.
Annan said he had a "useful meeting" in Ankara with six representatives of the opposition Syrian National Council headed by Burhan Galioun, whom he said had "promised their full cooperation."
"Our main objective is to reach a political and diplomatic solution. But if it fails, those countries will provide arms," Galioun said, referring to states such as Qatar which have urged the international community to arm the rebels.
Russia said it will press Damascus to accept international monitors.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was discussing the proposal with both the Arab League and at the United Nations.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced yesterday that a second Friends of Syria conference would take place in Istanbul on April 2, following an initial forum in Tunis on February 24.
