Fresh clashes rage in Syria

DAMASCUS- Fresh clashes were reported on Friday in many places in Syria, as Russia insists its opposition to sanctions against Damascus, saying they will complicate attempts to achieve stabilization in the Mideast country.

Syria's state TV said a big blast rocked al-Khalidieh neighborhood in central Homs province overnight Friday, after an "armed terrorist group" booby-trapped al-Shawader street in the neighborhood.

A large number of armed men were killed in the blast, the report said, adding that the "terrorists" are piling up the bodies of their killed comrades in order to portray them as victims of an army-led attack.

Activists have not commented on the incident yet, but reported heavy shelling on a number of areas nationwide, including the town of Qusair in Homs province.

On the same day, Syrian troops rescued two Italian experts who had been kidnapped earlier by armed groups, according to state TV. They had worked in a power plant in Deir Ali area near Douma suburb of Damascus.

The TV gave no further details about the rescue, but the area has witnessed intense fighting between armed rebels and government troops.

Meanwhile, state media said the army recuperated control of al-Hajar al-Aswad area in southern Damascus after clashes with armed opposition fighters.

The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists, said as many as 100 people were killed on Friday nationwide, while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 70.

Such accounts are generally difficult to be verified independently.

Also on Friday, Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali urged Lebanon to "forbid the exploitation and misuse of the border line between the two countries by gunmen who open fire on the Syrian security posts as most of these gunmen are outlaws".

Ali made the call in a media statement following his meeting with Haitham Abou Said, ambassador of the World Human Rights Organization and member of the International Parliament for Security and Peace.

The worsening crisis in Syria keeps arousing international concerns. Russia said on Friday that it is unacceptable to impose sanctions against Syria, questioning the idea of raising the issue in the UN General Assembly.

"We know that a group of Arab countries have drafted a resolution which, in particular, called for imposing sanctions on Damascus. It is incorrect to raise this issue at the General Assembly, because it is the UN Security Council that deals with problems of sanctions," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told reporters.

Several Arab nations on Wednesday announced plans to turn to the UN General Assembly to seek approval of a resolution calling for a "political transition" and the establishment of a "democratic government" in Syria, as members of the UN Security Council have failed to reach consensus on the issue.

Russia considers the move unacceptable and the proposed draft document as a whole "visibly unbalanced", Gatilov said.

"It is absolutely unacceptable that the draft prompts the UN member states to impose sanctions similar to those the Arab League has imposed on Syria in November 2011," said the senior diplomat.

"We believe that debates on this issue and the adoption of such a resolution can only complicate attempts to achieve stabilization in the situation in Syria," he added.

According to Gatilov, since the document has not yet been officially submitted to the UN General Assembly, "it would be premature to talk about when the voting on this issue could take place."

Unlike decisions by the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding.