Syria's leading opposition grouping, the Syrian National Council, meanwhile, threatened to seek foreign intervention to stop the regime's deadly crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.
Speaking in the Libyan capital, SNC member Najib Ghadbian said they were determined to "bring down" the regime of embattled
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
, accusing it of seeking to "militarize" the protest movement.
"If the regime continues to be so irresponsible ... our main objective is to call for the protection of civilians," along the lines of a U.N. no-fly zone set up in Libya that cleared the way to NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
air strikes, he said.
On the home front, 15 non-combatants were killed in Syria, including three teenage girls and a woman, while at least seven soldiers died in festivities with suspected army defectors, a watchdog group said.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight people were killed in Homs, central Syria, including four rubbed out by pro-regime "shabiha" militiamen.
The other seven non-combatants were killed in and around the town of Qusayr, near the Lebanese border, where festivities raged between troops and suspected army deserters, the watchdog said.
One woman was hit by a stray bullet while the teenage girls were killed when their home was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade as troops battled the suspected defectors near Qusayr.
Syrian forces raked homes with heavy machine-guns as they raided neighborhoods searching for suspects wanted by the authorities, the Observer said, adding that around 200 people were placed in long-term storage in the raids.
The Observatory also reported that at least seven Syrian soldiers were killed and others maimed in festivities with suspected army defectors in a village near Qusayr.
The United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
estimates more than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in a fierce crackdown on dissent in Syria since anti-regime protests erupted in mid-March.
Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
efforts to help defuse the deadly violence -- specifically a call for a dialogue between the government and the opposition -- were met with harsh criticism in the official Al-Thawra newspaper on Wednesday.
"It is no longer surprising to see the vaporous Arab League, which is supposed to be concerned with joint Arab action, turn into an instrument of injustice aimed at destabilizing Syria," the newspaper said.
The daily said the 22-member Arab League was "hostage to powers following the agenda of aggressors like the United States, Israel and their European allies."
"Following years of inaction, the Arab League has now become a tool of destabilization, and is acting against Arab interests," the paper said.
Last week the Arab League called for the launch in Cairo of a "national dialogue" between Syria's government and the opposition by the end of the month to help end the violence.
Syrian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
on Wednesday aired a broadcast of what it said was a pro-Assad rally in the second city of Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, Syria's economic hub, claiming it was attended by a million supporters of the president.
And the official Syrian news agency
... and if you can't believe the Official Syrian News Agency who can you believe?
SANA reported that authorities placed in long-term storage several "armed terrorists" including two members of the so-called Abu Sham group in Homs while weapons and army uniforms were seized.