Syrian rebels repel attack

BEIRUT – Syrian rebels repelled a push Monday by government tanks into a central town held by forces fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime in an 11-month conflict that looks increasingly like a civil war.

The military pressed its offensive on Rastan a day after the regime rejected Arab League calls for the U.N. to create a peacekeeping force in Syria and for an end to the violent crackdown on dissent. Damascus called the League initiative “a flagrant interference in (Syria’s) internal affairs and an infringement upon national sovereignty.”

With diplomatic efforts bogged down, the conflict is taking on the dimensions of a civil war, with army defectors clashing almost daily with soldiers. The rebels have taken control of small swaths of territory in central Homs province, where Rastan is located, and the northwestern province of Idlib, which borders Turkey.

The Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least three government soldiers were killed in the attempt to storm Rastan, which has been held by the rebels since late January.

Rastan, home to some 50,000 people, was one of the first areas in Syria where people took up arms to fight the regime.

The uprising began last March as mostly peaceful protests against Assad’s authoritarian rule, but has become more militarized in the face of the brutal military crackdown.

The U.N. human rights chief, Navi Pillay, told the General Assembly on Monday that more than 5,400 people were killed last year alone, and the number of dead and injured continues to rise daily.

She said tens of thousands of people, including children, have been arrested, more than 18,000 reportedly are still arbitrarily detained, and thousands are reported missing. In addition, 25,000 people are estimated to have sought refuge in neighboring countries and more than 70,000 are internally displaced.

Assad’s bloody crackdown on the opposition has left Syria almost completely isolated internationally, except for one key ally: Russia. China and Russia outraged the U.S. and many Arab countries earlier this month when they delivered a double veto to block a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Assad to leave power.

On Sunday, the 22-nation Arab League called for the Security Council to create a joint Arab-U.N. peacekeeping force for Syria and urged Arab states to sever all diplomatic contact with Damascus.