UNICEF: 400 children killed in Syrian violence

128 killed and 150 wounded as Syrian forces bombard Homs Washington, Cairo, Damascus – Adel Salama with Akram Ali At least 400 children have been killed in 11 months of violence in Syria and almost the same number detained, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday. "As of the end of January, 400 children are dead and more than 400 have been detained," UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said at a briefing.
"There are reports of children arbitrarily arrested, tortured and sexually abused while in detention," the agency added in a statement.
Mercado said the figures for children killed came from "credible" Syrian human rights groups.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the escalating violence in Syria "totally unacceptable before humanity," and told the government Monday that the Security Council's disagreement over a resolution condemning the bloodshed was not a licence to escalate attacks.
 Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov left for Syria Tuesday for talks with President Bashar Al-Assad amid an increase in violence in the city of Homs.
Lavrov's visit comes after Russia and China vetoed the Western -backed UN resolution criticising the crackdown in Syria. The UN Security Council measure condemned Assad's brutal crackdown on protesters and calling for him to be replaced by a unity government.
 Russia's foreign minister said top diplomats were preparing to tell Assad quick reforms were needed to stabilise the country.
According to the Russian news agency RIA, he told Assad: "Every leader of every country must be aware of his share of responsibility. You are aware of yours." He also reportedly said: "It is in our interests for Arab peoples to live in peace and agreement."
Before he and Mikhail Fradkov, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, flew to Damascus Lavrov said : "We've repeatedly urged Syria to speed up reforms, and we are continuing to do so."
Russia "firmly intends to seek the swiftest stabilisation of the situation in Syria on the basis of the swiftest implementation of democratic reforms whose time has come," the Foreign Ministry said Monday as Washington closed its embassy in Syria and withdrew its staff in the face of escalating mayhem.
"The deteriorating security situation that led to the suspension of our diplomatic operations makes clear once more the dangerous path Assad has chosen and the regime's inability to fully control Syria," State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said in Washington.
Meanwhile, China said on Tuesday it was considering sending its own envoys to the Middle East to help resolve the conflict in Syria.
Beijing also expressed hope that a visit to Damascus by the foreign minister of Russia -- which also vetoed the resolution -- would pay off as the two nations came under a barrage of international condemnation over the rejection.
Thirteen countries voted for the UN Security Council resolution Saturday, which aimed to back the Arab League's plan to end violence in Syria, where opposition groups say more than 6,000 people have died in a government crackdown.
"China is... considering sending people to relevant countries in the region so as to play a constructive role in the political settlement of the Syrian issue," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters.
On the other hand, Poland will now provide emergency consular services to Americans in Syria, and Ambassador Robert Ford will "continue his work and engagement with the Syrian people as head of our Syria team in Washington," the State Department said.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice called the vetoes "disgusting," and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced them as a "travesty."
"There are some in the West who have given evaluations of the vote on Syria in the United Nations Security Council that sound, I would say, indecent and perhaps on the verge of hysterical," Lavrov said. "Those who get angry are rarely right."
He said Russia had been willing to come to a consensus with other council members, but its proposed amendments were shot down Saturday and the resolution was put to a vote in a "hasty" way that all but invited Russia's veto to make Moscow look bad.
"We asked [supporters of the anti-Assad resolution] to wait a few days before putting it to a vote," so he and Fradkov could travel to Syria for the Assad meeting, Lavrov said. "But they thought it more important to transfer the blame for what is happening.
"Their unwillingness to wait for us to return from Damascus is a clear case of disrespect," he said. "It is sad that the resolution met such a fate."
Moscow announced the high-stakes mission hours before the Security Council vote.
Syria has been a key Middle Eastern client state of Moscow since 1971.
Syrian forces killed at least 47 people in the city of Homs on Monday, the opposition "Local Coordination Committees" said.
However, the Assad regime has signalled that it plans to continue to attack the central city of Homs.
Numerous accounts from residents, backed by some international journalists now embedded with the Free Syrian Army, have reported that the city has been shelled by the Syrian army since Friday.
But a statement from the Syrian ministry of the interior blamed the violence in the city on "armed terrorist groups".
The General Authority of the Syrian Revolution announced that the death toll resulting from shelling reached 128, including 19 children and 15 women. Most of the victims were in Homs.
Twelve separate areas of Homs had come under attack, but the main focus of the offensive was the Baba Amr district.
Syrian forces shelling the city also hit a makeshift medical clinic and residential areas, killing and injuring many people including hospital staff, according to activists.
Images of Homs - where Assad's wife Asma is originally from - showed plumes of smoke billowing into the sky as calls to pray went out from mosques across the battered central city.
“The bombing and shelling was non-stop, as tens of bombs fell continuously - there were at least 100 bombs in the first half an hour,” said an eyewitness.
He added: "Even if you stay at home and you don't protest, you will get killed."
Secretary General of the Arab League Nabil Al-Arabi denounced the shelling, while government officials stated that “terrorist” attacks killed three soldiers from the Syrian Army.
Meanwhile, the United States pulled out its employees from the US embassy in Damascus and froze its business. US Ambassador Robert Ford and several employees left Syria fearing armed attacks that may target the embassy. Belgium, Italy and the UK soon followed suit, with Britain also summoning the Syrian ambassador to the Foreign Office to express how "appalled' they were by the violence.
The Free Syrian Army also announced on Monday the formation of a higher military council to be called the “Higher Revolutionary Council” designed to supersede the Free Syrian Army.
Activists and witnesses said the Syrian army had stepped up its attacks on opposition fighters after the UN resolution was blocked by Russia and China.
The army also launched a fierce assault on the town of Zabadani, northwest of the capital and near the border with Lebanon, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"Troops backed by hundreds of armoured vehicles have launched an assault on the town of Zabadani... which is undergoing heavy tank shelling," it said.
A local wing of the Free Syrian Army warned it would start attacking "sensitive and strategic (targets) of the regime" unless it pulled back from the town by Tuesday morning.
The violence has reinforced opposition fears that Assad will unleash even greater firepower to crush dissent now that protection from China and Russia against any UN-sanctioned action appears assured.
After the UN veto, the commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army, Col Riad Al-Asaad, said “there is no other road” except military action to topple Assad.
With diplomacy at an impasse, the US and Turkey called for “friends of democratic Syria” to unite and rally against Assad’s regime, previewing the possible formation of a group of like-minded nations to coordinate assistance to the Syrian opposition.