Syrian Forces Raid Douma, 49 Killed throughout Country

Syrian security forces killed 49 civilians, including 10 children, in clashes across the country on Thursday, a rights group said.

"The toll for the day has risen to 49 civilians killed by the security forces in several regions of Syria, mostly in Homs," in the centre of the country, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

An Arab League team is to take the 10-month-old crisis in Syria to the U.N. Security Council, as activists said security forces launched an assault on a protest hub near the Syrian capital on Thursday.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay, meanwhile, said the United Nations could not keep track of the death toll in Syria's unrest that has already cost more than 5,400 lives.

At the Cairo-based Arab League, the organization’s chief Nabil al-Arabi said he and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani were to head to New York on Saturday to seek support for an Arab plan on Syria.

Arab League ministers last week urged Assad to delegate powers to his vice president and clear the way for a national unity government within two months, a plan which Damascus has ruled out as interference in its internal affairs.

On Thursday, there was no let-up in violence on the ground with activists reporting that troops were pressing a major assault on the central city of Hama, long a hotbed of resistance against the Assad regime.

Just north of Damascus, security forces attacked the town of Douma that activists say was in the hands of rebel troops last week before a withdrawal.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were also clashes between the army and deserters in Daraa province, south of the capital, cradle of the uprising against Assad's regime.

It said at least four civilians, including a 14-year-old boy and a 58-year-old woman, both shot dead by security forces, and four soldiers were killed in violence across the country on Thursday.

"Violent clashes pitted security forces against groups of deserters at the Misraba bridge near the town of Douma, which was rocked by strong explosions," the Observatory said.

It said more than 200 arrests were made in the town during the assault, although there was no independent confirmation of the reports as foreign media are restricted in their coverage of Syria's unrest which erupted in mid-March.

On the diplomatic front, Pillay's admission of losing count of the dead came as European and Arab governments worked on a Security Council resolution condemning Assad's government for its deadly crackdown on dissent.

The authorities on Thursday organized loyalist rallies in a string of major cities as they reacted angrily to mounting criticism from Arab governments that have taken the lead role in diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed.

Pillay gave a toll of more than 5,000 dead when she spoke to the Security Council in early December, but has not updated it.

Undersecretary general B. Lynn Pascoe told the council on January 10 that at least 400 people had been killed since a widely criticized Arab observer mission deployed in Syria on December 26.

After meeting Security Council ambassadors again, Pillay said the toll had risen but added: "We are experiencing difficulties because of the fragmentation on the ground.

"Some areas are totally closed such as parts of Homs, so we are unable to update that figure," she told reporters.

Russia said on Wednesday it would consider "constructive proposals" to end the bloodshed but opposed the use of force or sanctions against its Syrian ally.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any Security Council resolution backed by Moscow "must firmly record that it cannot be used or interpreted to justify anyone's outside military intervention in the Syria crisis."

Russia and China both blocked a previous Western attempt to have the Security Council formally condemn Assad's crackdown and impose stiff sanctions if he refuses to enter direct talks.

According to diplomats at the United Nations, European and Arab governments are drafting a new text they hope to put to a vote in the Security Council early next week.

In the capital, thousands took to the streets on Thursday in support of the government, chanting slogans hailing its longtime ally Moscow and denouncing the Arab League.

"Never will a people led by Bashar be defeated," the loyalist demonstrators chanted, an AFP correspondent reported. "We are all Bashar."

State television carried footage of similar pro-Assad rallies in other towns from Hasaka in the far northeast to Tartus on the Mediterranean coast where Russia retains a naval base.