Syria says large majority approved new constitution

BEIRUT – Amid reports of fresh atrocities in the besieged city of Homs, the Syrian government said Monday that an overwhelming majority of voters – 89 percent – had approved a new constitution that is billed as President Bashar Assad’s most serious concession yet in the nearly year-old uprising against his rule.

Opposition activists, backed by the Free Syrian Army guerrilla movement, rejected the results and vowed to continue their fight to end the Assad dynasty’s four-decade hold on the country. They renewed their calls for foreign assistance such as weapons and “safe zones” along the borders, saying the bloodshed of the past year renders moot any more regime promises of reform.

The results, however, bolstered Assad’s support from China and Russia, the two nations that had vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution earlier this month that called for new sanctions on Assad.

“The referendum has confirmed that the course for change is supported by the people,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement added that the referendum showed support for Assad’s opposition was “limited” and the rebels had “no exclusive right to speak on behalf of the Syrian people.”

“We hope that all sides in Syria work together and exert coordinated efforts to ease the tension as soon as possible,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news conference in Beijing, news agencies reported.

The likelihood of a peaceful resolution seemed to recede, however, as the Syrian army continued to shell Homs, and key Arab leaders called for sending weapons to beleaguered rebel forces.

An opposition activist, reached via an Internet hookup, reported that 64 men had been executed overnight after they fled Homs’ Baba Amr neighborhood with their families. The activist said that when the families reached a security checkpoint, the men were loaded onto buses and driven away. Their bodies were found later. The whereabouts of the women and children were unknown, the activist said.

The organizing group Avaaz, which has trained many of the so-called citizen journalists in Homs, gave a similar account, saying “at least 62 men” had been killed.

Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al Thani, said during a state visit to Norway that he supported delivering arms to the opposition forces “to defend themselves.”

“I think they’re right to defend themselves by weapons and I think we should help these people by all means,” Thani was quoted as saying in news reports.