(CNN) -- The death toll from fighting between Syrian government
forces and civilians rose Sunday, a day after the United Nations
Security Council failed to approve a plan seeking to halt the violence.
The
Arab League said Sunday it would continue to work with the Syrian
government and opposition to stop the killing despite the Security
Council vote, and it urged the government to "heed the people's
demands."
At least 22 people were killed Sunday, according to the
Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition
activists. The group said 16 of the deaths happened in Homs, where
hundreds have been killed in recent days in violence that opposition
groups blame on the government.
Three others were killed in the
Damascus countryside, the group said, and another three were killed in
the northwestern city of Idlib, where clashes broke out Sunday between
government forces and defectors. At least nine Syrian army troops were
killed in those clashes and 21 others were injured, according to Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group.
The
group also said a 14-year-old child was killed when security forces used
gunfire to disperse a demonstration in suburban Damascus.
The
Local Coordination Committees announced plans for a two-day civil strike
starting Sunday as a way to mount more pressure on President Bashar
al-Assad's government.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil
el-Araby insisted that despite the developments in the Security Council,
the Arab League and the international community will continue to seek a
resolution to the crisis, according to an Arab League official who
could not be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
"The
Arab League aims to avoid military intervention in Syria and continues
to probe for an Arab solution to the Syrian crisis," el-Araby said,
according to the official.
The Arab League suspended its mission
in Syria a week ago because of a recent sharp escalation in violence,
with hundreds killed in clashes.
The mission would have monitored
whether al-Assad was abiding by an agreement to end the crackdown,
which has resulted in an estimated 6,000 deaths, according to the United
Nations.
Protesters and rebel fighters have been demanding an end to al-Assad's rule and true democratic elections.
Saturday,
Russia and China used their veto power in the Security Council to
defeat a draft resolution that would have demanded al-Assad stop the
killing and answer calls aimed at finding a Syrian-led solution to the
11-month crisis.
The other 13 council members voted in favor of the resolution.
"What
happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty," U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday, saying the veto left the
world "faced with a neutered Security Council."
She said the
international community has to "redouble our efforts outside of the
United Nations with those allies and partners who support the Syrian
people's right to have better future. We have to increase diplomatic
pressure on the Assad regime and work to convince those people around
President Assad that he must go, and that there has to be a recognition
of that and a new start to try to form a government that will represent
all of the people of Syria."
The Russian and Chinese ambassadors
said they support the cessation of violence but did not agree with the
text of the resolution, which they said would have complicated the issue
and sent conflicting signals to both sides.
Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to visit Damascus on Tuesday to meet
with al-Assad, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.
Ambassadors
from the three other permanent members of the council -- the United
States, France and the United Kingdom -- said they were furious at
Russia and China for failing to halt the violence that has consumed
Syria.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told CNN that Russia and China
"will have any future blood spill on their hands." She said the United
States was "disgusted" by the veto.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall
Grant said his country was "appalled" by the veto, and French
Ambassador Gerard Araud said Russia and China have aligned themselves
with a regime that is massacring its people.
In the past few
days, more than 300 civilians have died and hundreds have been wounded
in Homs, in eastern Syria, north of Damascus. The opposition blames the
government for the attacks.
Residential buildings and homes were bombed in what the opposition Syrian National Council called a "massacre."
CNN
cannot independently confirm opposition or government reports from
Syria because the government has restricted journalists' access to the
country.
Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, said the crisis
has been manufactured and that there is a media campaign to make the
Syrian government look bad. The Syrian government has consistently
blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the violence.
Referring to
the deaths in Homs, Jaafari asked, "Is there a sensible person who would
believe a government commits massacres in a given city on a day when
the Security Council is scheduled to hold a meeting to examine the
situation in that country? Would any entity put itself in such a
position
