Clashes in Syria kill at least 23; Biden says Assad poses threat of sectarian conflict

Eleven civilians from 23 people were killed in Syria on Saturday as violence intensified in the eighth month of unrest against President Bashar al-Assad, pushing the death toll close to 4,600, according to a leading activist group.

In a three-hour, night-time battle in the north-western city of Idlib near the Turkish border, seven members of the security forces, five army rebels and three civilians were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

Five civilians were shot dead by security forces in central Homs province, and a man’s body was returned to his family five days after he had been arrested.

Fighting has become more intense as rebels increasingly often confront security forces loyal to the Syrian president who are trying to suppress the protest movement against his rule.

More than 4,000 people have died since protests broke out in March against the Assad family’s 41-year rule, according to the United Nations, which says the violence in Syria looks like civil war.

The United Nations’ top human rights forum has condemned Syria for “gross and systematic” violations by its forces, including executions and the imprisonment of some 14,000 people.

Syria faces mounting international and regional isolation as organisations such as the Arab League and the European Union, and the United States, demand that Damascus stop the bloodshed and talk to its opponents, and impose increasingly tough sanctions when it does not do so.

Syrian authorities say they are fighting foreign-backed “terrorist groups” trying to spark civil war who have killed some 1,100 soldiers and police since March.

The head of the main group of army deserters who have joined the opposition, the Free Syrian Army, told Reuters that his forces were switching their tactics from seizing equipment and hitting security checkpoints to attacking the military directly.

He said this was a necessary response to an increasing use of violence in Damascus’ military crackdown on protests.

In Geneva on Friday, an emergency meeting of the Human Rights Council passed a resolution “strongly condemning the continued widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities.”

Rights council members also agreed in a vote to appoint a special investigator and refer a report on the abuses in Syria to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“The source of instability”

Meanwhile U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in talks with the Turkish president that Assad threatens to “fan the flames” of sectarian conflict not only in Syria but in the wider region.

“Assad and his regime are the source of instability in Syria now and pose the greatest danger to fanning flames of sectarian conflict not only in Syria but beyond,” Biden told Abdullah Gul when they met Friday, the senior official told reporters.

Assad is from Syria's Alawi minority, while the anti-regime protesters are overwhelmingly from the Sunni majority.

Alawis loom large in the pro-regime militias who have taken a leading role in the regime's brutal crackdown, sparking mounting sectarian violence in protest centers such as third-largest city Homs.

In the region, Assad's main ally is Shiite Iran.

Biden said the “number one objective” was to get the Syrian regime to stop killing civilians and for Assad to resign, the official said.

Biden, who arrived to Turkey from Iraq, urged Assad to quit power in an interview with the Turkish daily Hurriyet published Friday.

“The United States' position on Syria is clear. The Syrian regime must end its brutality against its own people and President Assad must step down so a peaceful transition that respects the will of the people can take place,” Biden said.

Biden called for a peaceful transition in Syria and broader global sanctions over the crackdown.

“Syria's stability is important. That is exactly why we are insisting on change -- it is the current situation that is unstable,” Biden said in response to emailed questions from the newspaper.