moon called on Thursday for all sides to end the deadly violence in Syria and urged the international community to find a common response to the 11-month-old crisis. “What is important at this time is that first the Syrian authorities must stop killing their own people,” Ban told journalists on a visit to Vienna. “And this violence should stop from all sides whether by national security forces or by opposition forces.” At least 22 people died on Thursday as Syrian armor moved on protest hubs, while prominent blogger Razan Ghazzawi and other top activists were arrested, monitors said ahead of a UN vote on the crisis. President Bashar Al-Assad's troops pummelled the central city of Homs for a 13th straight day, with 18 people killed in central Hama province and four others dying in the southern city of Daraa, the monitors reported. “It's very methodical,” said Mohammed, a Daraa resident reached by telephone from Beirut. He said regime forces were attacking the province “village by village.” Ban also called for a united response from the international community to the violence. “I urge the international community to speak in one voice: stop the violence. Stop the bloodshed,” he said ahead of a UN General Assembly vote Thursday on a resolution calling on Assad to stop deadly attacks on civilians. “The longer we debate, the more people will die.” Moscow was reported on Thursday to oppose the General Assembly resolution, which is not binding. The authorities arrested Ghazzawi, symbol of the 11-month uprising against Assad's regime, and prominent human rights activist Mazen Darwish, his wife and 11 others, a human rights lawyer said. Anwar Bunni said Ghazzawi was arrested in a raid on the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, which is in central Damascus and headed by Darwish. The latest crackdown came with the UN General Assembly set to vote later on Thursday on a measure condemning repression in Syria, just days after Russia and China jointly vetoed a similar text in the UN Security Council. Earlier, the opposition rejected a newly drafted constitution that could end nearly five decades of single-party rule and urged voters to boycott a February 26 referendum on the charter.
