The UN Human Rights Council has urged tougher international action against Syria, condemning "gross violations" of human rights following evidence security forces killed and tortured dissidents.

Rights council members also agreed in a vote in Geneva on Friday to appoint a special investigator and refer a report on the abuses to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The emergency meeting was called to address the findings of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, appointed by the Human Rights Council earlier this year, which said security forces had committed crimes against humanity, including the killing of 307 children, since the March crackdown.

The council passed a resolution "strongly condemning the continued widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities."

The European Union said the vote sent a strong message to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to halt the violence but Russia, a close Syrian ally which voted against the resolution, branded it "unacceptable".

The resolution recommends that the main UN bodies consider the report although explicit reference in the draft to the General Assembly and the UN Security Council -- the organisation's most powerful branch -- was omitted.

Rights groups said Friday's action did not go far enough and want the crisis referred to the International Criminal Court.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, whose role is separate from the inter-governmental rights council, has made the same recommendation and warned at the meeting that the "ruthless repression" could drive Syria to civil war.

Pillay said more than 4,000 had been killed in the crackdown since March and tens of thousands arrested. At least 12,400 people are also reported to have fled the country.

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said the resolution was a clear signal to the Syrian people that the international community supports them.

"This EU initiative, supported by Arab states and countries across the world, demonstrates that we do not accept Syria's persistent failure to comply with its international obligations," Ashton said in a statement.

US ambassador Eileen Chamberlain described the situation as one of "slaughter" in her address to the meeting, the third called to discuss Syria since the repression began.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the council's move, along with sanctions taken by the Arab League and other international actions, "shows that the Assad regime is now more isolated and under greater international pressure than ever before."

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the move confirmed once again the regime's international isolation and that resolve to stop the repression was stronger than ever.

The Commission said evidence it collected showed Syrian security forces committed murder and torture on orders from the top of Assad's regime.

The panel was not allowed entry to the country and based its report on interviews with 223 victims and witnesses carried out elsewhere and via Skype.

Thirty-seven members voted in favour of the resolution, six abstained while four countries -- Russia, Cuba, Ecuador and China -- voted against.

Russian ambassador Valery Loshchinin said the international community had been given a "one-sided" report of events in Syria.

Moscow warned against using the resolution as a pretext for military action.

"The positions (adopted) in the document, which include the veiled hint of the possibility of foreign military intervention under the pretext of defending the Syrian people, are unacceptable to the Russian side," the foreign ministry said.

Human Rights Watch said it regretted that the council had stopped short of seeking Security Council support so observers could gain access to Syria.

"States that stood in the way of asking the Security Council to take such steps and to refer this situation to the International Criminal Court need to explain to the Syrian people what they intend to do to stop the abuses," said spokesman Philippe Dam.

"Standing by when crimes against humanity are occurring just shouldn't be an option."

Amnesty International also said the resolution pointed to the need for referral to the ICC.

"The resolution effectively acknowledges there is scant hope of obtaining justice and accountability via Syria's own justice system... and so the need for such a referral to the ICC is all the clearer," said Philip Luther, interim head of Middle East and North Africa.

-Agencies-

Condemnation by the UN Human Rights Council shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is more isolated than ever, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.

The council urged tougher international action against Syria, condemning "gross violations" of human rights following evidence security forces killed and tortured dissidents.

Rights council members in Geneva also agreed in a vote to appoint a special investigator and refer a report on the abuses to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The council's move, along with sanctions taken by the Arab League and other international actions, "shows that the Assad regime is now more isolated and under greater international pressure than ever before," Clinton said.

The emergency meeting in Geneva was called to address the findings of the council-appointed Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which said security forces had committed crimes against humanity, including the killing of 307 children.

In her statement, Clinton said the United States worked with more than 50 countries in the special council session.

"It is clear that the Syrian government is willing to do anything to strangle the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," Clinton said in a statement released in Washington while she headed back from a trip to Myanmar.

"The United States strongly supports the commission's efforts to expose the abuses by the Assad regime and help bring the human rights violators to account," the chief US diplomat said.

Clinton told the "people of Syria, the world stands by you, and we will not ignore your plight in the face of ongoing violence."

In a message to the Syrian government, she said "the time has come to end the flagrant human rights violations and step out of the way of the democratic transition that the Syrian people are yearning for."

-Agencies-
 

TYRE, Lebanon (AFP)afrasianet -- The Israeli army on Friday detonated two of its espionage devices in southern Lebanon, slightly injuring two passers-by, the Lebanese military said.

"Around noon today, the Israeli enemy detonated two spying apparatuses by remote control in Wadi al-Qaysiyya outside of Majdal Selem" near the southern coastal city of Tyre, an army spokesman said.

Two laborers in the area suffered light injuries, he said.

The spokesman did not give details on the devices destroyed.

Hezbollah, for its part, said the incident was "another achievement" of the Shiite movement's counter-espionage teams.

"Telecom technicians of the resistance managed to discover a spying device the enemy had planted in Wadi al-Qaysiyya," said a statement released by the Hezbollah media relations department.

"The enemy detonated its devices as a result of the discovery," the statement added.

Friday's incident came amid high tension in Lebanon over impending indictments by a UN-backed probe into the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is allegedly set to implicate high-ranking members of Hezbollah in the killing, a move the party has repeatedly warned against.

Hezbollah has accused the STL of being part of a US-Israeli plot and said Israel had infiltrated the group's telecom network.

The STL has allegedly based its indictments on extensive telecommunications evidence.

Kuwait's public prosecutor on Thursday ordered the release on bail of 24 youth activists who had been held in detention over the storming of parliament last month, their lawyer said.

"A decision has just been issued to release all the 24 people on a bail of 1,000 dinars ($3,600) each," Al-Humaidi al-Subaie, who heads the legal defence team of the activists, said.

The men, who have been on hunger strike since Friday, are expected to be released from Kuwait's central prison in the afternoon, said Subaie.

Opposition MPs and supporters of the activists had campaigned for their release by camping outside Kuwait City's palace of justice each night since their arrest.

Subaie said the activists were interrogated for storming the parliament, damaging public property and assaulting police among other charges for which they face prison sentences of between six months and life.

Hundreds of opposition activists overran parliament on November 16 after clashes with riot police that followed a large protest to demand the prime minister's resignation and the dissolution of parliament.

Kuwait's emir on Wednesday appointed former defence minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah to form a new cabinet after former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah quit two days earlier.

-Agencies-