The United Nations says the death toll in Syria has topped 2,600 since anti-government
protests began in March. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops continued their
crackdown on demonstrators this week, conducting raids around the central city of
Hama. His regime also got a boost from Russia on Monday, which said it would not support
a UN resolution condemning the violence if the resolution included sanctions. Speaking
to the opening session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday,
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay called on Syrian authorities
to protect civilians. Pillay also expressed concern about similar crackdowns in other
countries. Since December of 2010 and the uprisings in Tunisia that resulted in the
ouster of the government there, a wave of sometimes violent revolutionary unrest has
swept across the whole Mideast - North African region, affecting more than a dozen
different countries from one degree to another. Listen