U.N. Rights Chief Calls for Urgent Action on Syria after More ‘Massacres’

U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay called Wednesday for urgent international action to protect civilians in Syria, as troops continued to shell the city of Homs, a center of protest in the country.

"I am appalled by the Syrian government's willful assault on Homs, and its use of artillery and other heavy weaponry in what appear to be indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas in the city," said a statement from Pillay.

"The failure of the Security Council to agree on firm collective action appears to have fuelled the Syrian government's readiness to massacre its own people in an effort to crush dissent," it added.

Pillay, the United Nation's High Commissioner for Human Rights, stressed the "extreme urgency for the international community to cut through the politics and take effective action to protect the Syrian population."

Syria's army has sharply increased its use of tanks, helicopters, mortars, rockets and gunfire to attack civilians in Homs, according to accounts from local sources, her office said.

There are reports that hospitals are now overwhelmed or inaccessible and people have set up makeshift clinics throughout the city, the statement said.