Homs bombardment continues after referendum

President Assad and his wife vote at the referendum for the new constitution Damascus – Azhar Al-Jarbouei A meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed other new “restrictive measures” including a ban on cargo flight into the EU, the blacklisting of seven people close to President Bashar Al-Assad and restrictions on trade in gold and precious metals
but has pulled back from targeting crucial Syrian mineral exports and commercial flights.
Britain and other countries had also urged a ban on phosphate imports from Syria, the country’s sixth largest exports industry with 40 per cent of trade accounted for by the EU.
However, Greece, one of the main buyers of Syrian phosphates in Europe, opposed the ban as it is facing a major slump and debt crisis.
The EU has already imposed oil and arms embargoes against Syria in response to a government suppression of dissent that has left more than 7,600 people dead, according to rights groups, since anti-regime protests sparked last March.
Meanwhile, bombardments continued on Monday in the besieged cities of Homs and Baba Amr for the 24th day in a row, while wounded journalists stranded in Homs refused to be evacuated by a Red Crescent team on Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed.
The team rescued 27 injured people from the city last Friday after negotiations with the governor of Homs. However, injured journalists including Le Figaro reporter Edith Bouvier and Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy declined to enter the Red Crescent vehicles.
The new constitution proposed after the referendum conducted on Sunday by the regime will entrench multi-party rule, prepare for parliamentary elections within three months and limit presidency to two seven-year terms, a statute that will only come into force when Mr Assad, in power since 2000, completes his present stint in 2014, the Daily Telegraph liveblog reported on Monday.
The Local Co-ordination Committee (LCC), Syrian main opposition group, boycotted the referendum saying it was an attempt by Assad to cover up the crackdown.
The group in a statement said holding a referendum “whose result is known in advance” would not alter the police state that underpins the repression.
British Foreign Minister William Hague also slammed the referendum saying that it: “fooled nobody. To open polling stations but to continue to open fire on the civilians of the country has no credibility in the eyes of the world.”
However, Hague remained firm on his negative stance towards arming the Syrian opposition. The Foreign Minister however said that the UK will keep supporting the Syrian opposition through peaceful means and underplayed suggestions from the Arab League about a potential peace keeping force being deployed on the ground in the country.
Syria held a referendum on a new constitution Sunday, as President Bashar Al-Assad struggled to placate those vying for his resignation.  However, the opposition deemed it an empty gesture and the West immediately dismissed the vote as “laughable”.
Meanwhile on Monday, regime forces fired heavy barrages of artillery and rockets across Homs, where rebels have been holding out through weeks of bombardment, opposition activists said.
"Intense shelling started on Khalidiya, Ashira, Bayada, Baba Amr and the old city at dawn," activist Muhammad Al-Homsi told Reuters from Homs.
"The army is firing from the main thoroughfares deep into alleyways and side streets. Initial reports indicate at least two people killed in the Souk area," he said.
At least 31 Syrian civilians and soldiers were killed on Sunday in bloodshed that coincided with a vote on the new constitution that could keep Assad in power until 2028.
Earlier this month, Assad unveiled the proposed new national charter in his latest reform pledge since protests erupted last March, with the resulting violence killing more than 7,600 people, monitors say.
But the referendum, which opposition forces have called to boycott, has failed to ease global pressure on Assad, with the United States calling it “laughable.”
More than 14 million people over the age of 18 are eligible to vote at 13,835 polling stations, which opened for 12 hours at 7:00 am (0500 GMT).
However, with many parts of the country reeling under a bloody campaign to crush protests, and army defectors engaged in a guerrilla campaign against loyalist troops, it is unclear how the ballot can prove to be convincing.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem said: "My message to the outside is to address their own internal worries and to leave Syria alone," adding that "those who care for the interests of the Syrian people don't impose sanctions on it."
The new constitution, framed by a committee of 29 people appointed by Assad, would drop the highly controversial Article 8 in the existing charter, which makes Assad’s Baath party “the head of state and society.”
It would effectively end the monopoly on power the Baathists have enjoyed since they seized power in a 1963 coup that brought Assad’s late father, Hafez, to power.
Activists leading the revolt against the decades of Assad family rule have called for a boycott of the vote. In Damascus and suburbs where troops drove out insurgents last month, activists said they would try to hold protests near polling centres and burn copies of the new constitution.
State television showed officials stacking boxes of referendum ballots and preparing voting centres, and citizens interviewed said they planned to vote ‘yes’ in the national interest.
Activists said security forces have stopped people who had ventured out to buy food in Homs, confiscated their Interior Ministry-issued identification cards and informed them the cards can be retrieved at specified polling centres on Sunday.
“They want to force people to vote in this doctored, so-called referendum anyway they can,” activist Mohammad Al-Homsi said from Homs.