U.N. Rights Panel Slams Murder, Torture of Civilians in Syria as 11 Killed in Friday Protests

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday slammed "gross violations" in Syria following evidence security forces murdered and tortured dissidents including children, as eleven more people reportedly died.

Council members in Geneva overwhelmingly passed a resolution "strongly condemning the continued widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities" and referred a report on the abuses to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

There were 37 yes votes and six abstentions, while four countries -- Russia, Cuba, Ecuador and China -- voted against.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing slaughter, arbitrary arrest and torture of peaceful protesters," US ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe said earlier at the council's third emergency meeting to discuss Syria since the repression began in March.

A U.N.-appointed investigative panel found widespread killings and abuse of dissidents since the start of the crackdown, which has claimed more than 4,000 lives, according to the United Nations.

"November was the deadliest month so far with 56 children killed," said the head of the panel, citing "reliable sources."

"To date, 307 children were killed by state forces," Paulo Pinheiro told the Geneva-based body.

The panel said Syrian security forces committed crimes against humanity, including the killing and torture of children, after orders from the top of the Bashar Assad regime.

It interviewed 223 victims and witnesses, among them defectors from Assad's security forces who told of shoot-to-kill orders to crush demonstrators and cases of children being tortured to death.

Also Friday, activists said security forces killed at least ten more people, and tens of thousands marched in protests across Syria calling for Turkey to create a buffer zone to protect civilians.

The largest protests were held in central Homs province and the northern town of Hama, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The demonstrations came a day after mutinous soldiers attacked a Syrian air force intelligence base in Idlib, killing eight people, according to the Observatory.

And another two people were killed by random gunfire in Homs province, the Observatory said in a statement received in Nicosia.

Witnesses and a medical official said Syrian troops also fired across the border into Lebanon, wounding a woman and two men.

Meanwhile U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Assad to quit, adding to growing global pressure on the regime over its crackdown on dissidents.

"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 told the Hurriyet daily in an interview published Friday.

Biden called for a peaceful transition in Syria, saying: "Lasting stability can come when there is a government that listens to its people and addresses their needs, rather than turning their guns on them."

The United States and its Western allies are leading a campaign to isolate Assad over the bloody crackdown.

The European Union expanded its sanctions list against Syria to include the finance and economy ministers, state-owned oil companies and two media organizations.

Finance Minister Mohammad al-Jleilati and Economy Minister Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar were among 12 regime officials added to a blacklist of Syrians hit by asset freezes and bans on traveling to the 27-nation EU.

General Fahid al-Jassim, the head of the military, led a list of nine military officials punished on charges of involvement in violence against protesters in the Homs region.

The EU now has sanctions on around 120 Syrian individuals and companies and is already enforcing an arms embargo and a ban on imports of Syrian crude oil.