More protests, attacks in Syria

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, disregarding UN condemnation of their violent suppression of a nation-wide revolt, renewed a bombardment of the opposition stronghold of Homs and attacks on rebels in Deraa on Friday. Demonstrations against Assad were reported by activists in several cities across Syria, including the capital Damascus and the commercial hub Aleppo, after Friday Muslim prayers despite the threat of violence from security forces.
China's vice foreign minister, Zhai Jun, arrived in Damascus in a show of support for Assad after the UN General Assembly passed a resolution telling the increasingly isolated president to halt the crackdown and surrender power.
---- Chinese official arrives for talks with Assad China, along with Russia, had voted against the motion and says Syria must be allowed to resolve its problems without being dictated terms by foreign powers. Its stance on Syria will "withstand the test of history", Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in Beijing.
Zhai said before leaving for Damascus: "China does not approve of the use of force to interfere in Syria or the forceful pushing of a so-called regime change." China's embassy in Damascus said Zhai would meet his Syrian counterpart on Friday night, hold talks with Assad on Saturday and also meet opposition figures in Damascus. It was not known if he had any particular message for Assad or if he would try to persuade him to call off the military operation.
Even as Zhai landed in Damascus, government forces pummelled opposition-held areas of the strategic western city of Homs, now under fire for two weeks. An intense bombardment hit the mainly Sunni Muslim area of Baba Amro after Alawite-led troops, backed by armour, advanced from neighbouring Inshaat, opposition activists there said.
"They are mostly firing rockets that directly fall onto buildings and mortar rounds now and then. Only Karama street now separates Baba Amro from the army at Inshaat," activist Aba Iyad said by satelite phone from Baba Amro. In Idlib, capital of the rugged north-western province on the border with Turkey, two residents told Reuters that tanks ringed the city at dawn. Residents anticipated an assault.
In Deraa, a city on the Jordanian border where the revolt erupted nearly a year ago, explosions and machinegun fire echoed through districts under attack by troops, residents said. The UN assembly vote in New York on Thursday showed Assad had few foreign sympathisers left. The vote went 137-12 in favour with 17 abstentions on a resolution endorsing an Arab League plan that calls for him to step down.