Syrian forces kill at least 14 in town near Hama

At least 14 people were killed by Syrian forces in the town of Kfar Nubouzeh near Hama on Thursday, activists said.

Footage on YouTube showed at least eight bodies, most without legs, lying on the floor of what looked like a hospital.

It was earlier reported that China, which has been criticized for vetoing a U.N. vote aimed at pressuring Syria's leader to step down, said Thursday it will send a senior envoy to the country for talks on ending the violence there.
 
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun will be in Syria on Friday and Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a news briefing. Zhai met a Syrian opposition delegation in Beijing last week.
 
China and Russia drew the wrath of the United States, Europe and much of the Arab world earlier this month for vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at pressuring Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down. China says the council vote was called before differences over the proposal were bridged.
 
Liu said Zhai's schedule was still being arranged and he had no information on whom he would meet.
 
"I believe the message of this visit is that China hopes for a peaceful and proper resolution of the Syrian situation, and that the Chinese side will play a constructive role in the mediation," Liu said.
 
Zhai's visit will come during an escalation in violence in Syria, especially in the central city of Homs. It also comes ahead of a Feb. 26 referendum on a new constitution that would create a multiparty system in a country that has been ruled by Assad's autocratic family dynasty for 40 years.
 
Assad opponents say the referendum, announced Wednesday, and other reforms will not be enough, insisting Assad must go. The White House has also dismissed the referendum.
 
Earlier this week in Beijing, Premier Wen Jiabo told visiting U.N. leaders that the most urgent issue in Syria was to "prevent war and chaos." He said China was not protecting any party, including the government, in the dispute.
 
Later Thursday, the U.N. General Assembly will vote on an Arab-sponsored resolution strongly condemning human rights violations by the Syrian regime and backing an Arab League plan that calls for Assad to hand over power to his vice president. The measure cannot be vetoed in the Assembly, but the resolution would be nonbinding.
 
As Syrian forces have stepped up their assault on rebellious cities, President Bashar Assad ordered a referendum on a new constitution that would create a multiparty system in a country that has been ruled by his autocratic family dynasty for 40 years.     

"The people in the street today have demands, and one of these demands is the departure of this regime," said Khalaf Dahowd, a member of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria, an umbrella for several opposition groups in Syria and in exile.       

The White House also dismissed the referendum. Press secretary Jay Carney called the move "laughable" in light of ongoing brutality by the Syrian military and said it "makes a mockery" of the uprising.       

Assad's call for a referendum, set for Feb. 26, also raises the question of how a nationwide vote could be held at a time when many areas see daily battles between Syrian troops and rebel soldiers.       

Russia, a top Syrian ally, has presented Assad's reform promises as an alternative way to resolve Syria's bloodshed. Earlier this month, Moscow and Beijing vetoed a Western- and Arab-backed resolution at the U.N. Security Council aimed at pressuring Assad to step down.       

The current Syrian constitution enshrines Assad's Baath Party as the leader of the state. But according to the new draft, "the state's political system is based on political pluralism and power is practiced democratically through voting."             

The new draft reinstates the requirement of 40 and mandates that any presidential candidate must have lived continuously in Syria for at least a decade. That would to rule out the candidacy of Syrian dissidents who have lived in exile out of fear for their lives.       

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Wednesday that his country  one of the harshest international critics of Assad's crackdown  is trying to rework the resolution to overcome Russian resistance. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he will meet Juppe in Vienna on Thursday and discuss the idea.       

The U.N. General Assembly will vote Thursday on an Arab-sponsored resolution strongly condemning human rights violations by the Syrian regime and backing an Arab League plan that calls for Assad to hand over power to his vice president. Russia cannot veto the measure in the Assembly, but the resolution would be nonbinding.       

Lavrov praised Assad's referendum call, saying "a new constitution to end one-party rule in Syria is a step forward it is coming late unfortunately but better late than never." He said the international community should press on the opposition to enter negotiations with Assad.