The United Nations today charged Syria with "gross human rights violations" as Damascus faced growing economic sanctions and condemnation over its crackdown on protesters.
In Geneva, a UN commission of inquiry said Syrian military and security forces had committed crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape, for which President Bashar al-Assad and his government bore direct responsibility.
It demanded an end to the human rights violations and the release of those rounded up in mass arrests since March by Syrian forces quashing pro-democracy demonstrations. Over 3,500 people were killed in eight months, the UN says.
The UN panel, which interviewed 223 victims and witnesses including defectors, called on Damascus to halt "gross human rights violations", release prisoners rounded up in mass arrests and allow access to media, aid workers and rights monitors.
"The commission has concluded, based on its findings, that members of the Syrian army and security forces have committed crimes again humanity in their repression of a largely civilian population in the context of a peaceful protest movement," Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the three-member panel, told a news conference.
The 39-page report to the UN Human Rights Council catalogues executions, torture, rapes including of children, arbitrary detentions and abductions carried out since March by Syrian forces quashing pro-democracy demonstrations while enjoying "systemic impunity" for their crimes.
"The commission therefore believes that orders to shoot and otherwise mistreat civilians originated from policies and directives issued at the highest levels of the armed forces and the government," it said.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in the violence, according to the United Nations, while activists say that up to 30,000 have been arrested, many kept in open-air stadiums.
"Reliable sources indicated that 256 children had been killed by state forces as of November 9," Mr Pinheiro said.
One soldier testified that he had defected after witnessing the shooting of a two-year-old girl last August by an officer who said that "he did not want her to grow into a demonstrator".
The UN Security Council stopped short of taking action against Syria when China and Russia vetoed a resolution in October. After continuing international criticism of Dr Assad's handling of the crisis, the Arab League approved sanctions against Syria on Sunday.
"The international community must act. More than ever it has a duty to stop the suffering of the civilian population," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in a statement after the UN report was published.
In a written response included in the UN report, Syria's mission to the United Nations said Syria was standing against US "policies of occupation" and blamed the violence on "terrorist operations carried out by armed outlaws who are terrorising our citizens" and trying to "divide the country along sectarian lines and incite civil war".
Syria refused access to the UN investigators, saying it was carrying out its own inquiry.
The inquiry, set up by the UN Human Rights Council last August, also called on the 47-member state forum to establish a special rapporteur or investigator on Syria.
The Geneva forum is expected to hold another special session on Syria, its third, on Friday, at the request of the European Union and other states.
In a statement this evening, the United States and European Union urged Syria to end violence immediately and allow for a peaceful democratic transition of government.
The statement, which came after an annual summit of US and European leaders, also called on Syria to allow human rights observers and international journalists into the country.
However, state television broadcast pro-Assad rallies "supporting national unity and rejecting foreign interference", after the Arab League imposed sanctions yesterday.
Dr Assad's foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, lambasting the Arab League for "a declaration of economic war" that he said had closed the door to resolving the crisis.
"Sanctions are a two-way street," Mr Moualem told a televised news conference. "I am not warning here, but we will defend the interests of our people".
Syria's close trading partners Lebanon and Iraq rejected the Arab League measures, whose economic impact could be less severe than intended, analysts said.
The Arab League appealed once more to Damascus, offering "a review of all of the measures" if Syria dropped its opposition to an Arab plan to end the crackdown.
Reuters