Syria in state of civil war, declares top UN official

Syria has entered a state of civil war – with more than 4,000 people dead and a growing number of soldiers defecting to take up arms against president Bashar al-Assad’s regime – the United Nation’s top human rights official has said.

Mr Assad has been trying to crush an eight-month revolt against his autocratic rule, but the violence has only intensified.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said the UN was putting the death toll for the revolt “at 4,000 but really the information coming to us is that it’s much more than that”.

Speaking in Geneva, Mr Pillay said: “As soon as there were more and more defectors threatening to take up arms I said – in August before the Security Council – that there’s going to be a civil war. And at the moment, that’s how I am characterising this.”

The scathing criticism from Mr Pillay comes as the pressure piles on Mr Assad from home and abroad. Yesterday, the European Union imposed fresh sanctions, and the Syrian opposition called a general strike.

The recent spate of economic sanctions from the EU, the Arab League and Turkey are punishing Syria’s ailing economy, a dangerous development for the government in Damascus.

Syrian business leaders have long traded political freedoms for economic privileges in the country, where the prosperous merchant classes are key to propping up the regime. But the sanctions, coupled with increasing calls for strikes, could sap their resolve.

The sanctions came as Syrian troops stormed a village in the central province of Hama, killing at least six people – the latest in what has become daily violence.