Syria ignores Arab plan to stop bloodshed

DAMASCUS: Syrian troops pounded the protest hub of Homs on Monday, as an Arab League peacekeeping plan for the country went ignored and the UN rights chief said crimes against humanity had probably been committed.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad swiftly rejected the Arab League initiative for a joint mission with the United Nations to end the bloodshed, and shelling resumed in Baba Amr, a rebel bastion in Homs, rights monitors said.

The latest violence came as Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, delivered a stark verdict on the consequences of the international community's failure to pass a UN resolution condemning the deadly crackdown.

"The nature and scale of abuses committed by Syrian forces indicate that crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed since March 2011," she told the UN General Assembly.

"The failure of the Security Council to agree on firm collective action appears to have emboldened the Syrian government to launch an all-out assault in an effort to crush dissent with overwhelming force."

The United States said it was considering whether a peacekeeping force would work while Russia, who with China vetoed a second UN resolution on Syria on February 4, said a ceasefire was needed before peacekeepers can be deployed. (AFP)