Syria hits back at global outcry over crackdown

The appearance of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before his people and the world on Sunday was his first since June 2012, and it could be his last.

Sen. John Kerry has held up Syria as a country that could bring peace and stability to the Mideast and predicted that the now-disgraced government of President Bashar Assad would pursue a legitimate relationship with the United States. Those assertions are certain to draw scrutiny at Kerry’s confirmation hearing to be secretary of state as Assad’s brutal crackdown has plunged his country into civil war.

AMMAN, Jordan — More than 200 Syrian soldiers and opposition fighters died in the eight-day battle for a police academy near the embattled northern city of Aleppo, activists said Sunday as President Bashar Assad lashed out at the West for sending aid to those trying to oust him. The Britain-based anti-regime group The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels seized control of the police academy in Khan al-Asal, west of Aleppo, after entering the sprawling government complex with tanks they captured from Assad’s troops in previous battles.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called Thursday on the Syrian regime to stop the killings in its crackdown on anti-government protests, stressing that "we cannot go on like this.""In Syria meanwhile, the killing continues. This must stop," said the UN secretary-general."I call on the Syrian leadership to deliver on its commitments and to allow our UN humanitarian assessment team and the human rights fact-finding mission mandated by the Human Rights Council in."It's time to see progress here. We cannot go on like this," said Ban.

Human Rights Watch on Friday called for the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the deadly crackdown on protesters in Syria and to "strongly condemn repression of peaceful protests.""Syria?s President Bashar al-Assad needs to hear an unequivocal message from the Human Rights Council that violent suppression of peaceful protests is unacceptable and will have consequences," said Julie de Rivero, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch.

The UN General Assembly on Tuesday suspended Libya from the UN Human Rights Council over leader Moamer Kadhafi's brutal crackdown on opposition protests.The 192-member assembly passed a suspension resolution by consensus, without a vote, after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the body to "act decisively" against Kadhafi.The Human Rights Council in Geneva had called for the suspension which needed a two-thirds majority at the General Assembly to be passed.

Senior U.S. and British diplomats say although Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's recent speech on lifting the country's long-standing state of emergency struck a conciliatory tone and he has promised to lift the law, he now needs to implement reforms and stop his government's security crackdown.