More Than 300 Dead In Syrian Massacre

(NewsCore) - More than 300 people were killed in the Syrian protest hub of Homs, as a UN Security Council vote on a resolution to condemn the violence ended with a dual veto Saturday.

The assault on Homs was described by the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) as "one of the most horrific massacres" since the uprising against President Bashar al Assad began in March last year, and it drew sharp international condemnation.

President Barack Obama issued a statement Saturday morning calling on Assad to step aside and saying the Syrian regime showed a "disdain for human life and dignity."

"Assad has no right to lead Syria, and has lost all legitimacy with his people and the international community," Obama said in the statement.

But despite the surge of violence, the resolution was rejected by the UN Security Council after vetoes by Russia and China on Saturday. If passed, it would have backed an Arab League plan requiring Assad to step down and allow for a peaceful political transition.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, called Russia and China's opposition "shameful" in a forceful statement delivered before the Security Council.

The Russian and Chinese envoys, meanwhile, defended their votes, with Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin arguing the resolution's text would have "sent an unbalanced signal to the Syrian parties."

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said he would travel to Syria on Feb. 7 to meet with Assad, but he did not provide details on what would be discussed, Ria Novosti reported.

A Cairo-based SNC spokesman said at least 337 people were killed in the Homs assault -- 287 of whom have been identified. Of those identified, 72 were children and 45 were women, he said. The spokesman feared the death toll would rise, as 1,100 people were injured in the assault, including 95 who are in critical condition, Sky News reported.

Citing Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman, AFP put the Homs death toll at 237, including 99 women and children, with several hundred others wounded.

Al Jazeera reported that the main public hospital in the area was "completely overwhelmed" and makeshift clinics had been set up in local mosques to try and deal with the casualties. The SNC spokesman told Sky News that ambulances were unable to reach the injured, and cars carrying people to the hospital were shelled.

The SNC earlier said Syrian forces also "bombed" the flashpoint northern town of Jisr al Shughur, near the Turkish border, and the suburbs of the capital Damascus, AFP reported.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian forces also opened fire on a funeral procession near Damascus on Saturday, killing 12 people and wounding 30 others.

However, the Syrian government denied its army was responsible for the offensive, with Information Minister Adnan Mahmud accusing Syrian rebels of shelling Homs to "to swing the vote" at the Security Council.

"The reports on some satellite channels that the Syrian army shelled neighborhoods in Homs are fabricated and unfounded," Mahmud said in a statement to AFP.

Tunisia, where the Arab Spring was first sparked more than a year ago, said it had begun the formal procedure to remove the Syrian ambassador from the country and "end all recognition of the [Assad] regime."

The head of the Arab League's parliament also called on its member states cut their economic and diplomatic links with Syria following the attack, AFP reported.

Syrian demonstrators crowded outside embassies in cities across the world, including in Washington, to protest against the assault in Homs.

Embassies in London, Athens, Cairo and Kuwait City were stormed by protesters who smashed windows, and in Cairo the embassy was set alight.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad's rule erupted in March 2011. The UN said earlier this year that it had stopped compiling a death toll due to the difficulty of obtaining information inside Syria.