Britain

Britain warns of 'a day of reckoning' for Syrian regime amid reports of executions

CNN) -- Syrian forces executed 10 people Friday and at least 10 others died when a shell hit demonstrators, opposition groups claimed as Britain's leader warned President Bashar al-Assad's regime will face a "day of reckoning."

"Above all," said British Prime Minister David Cameron, "what I think matters is building the evidence and the picture so we hold this criminal regime to account, and to make sure it is held to account for crimes that it is committing against its people." He spoke to reporters outside a meeting of leaders of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium.

"And one day, no matter how long it takes, there will be a day of reckoning for this dreadful regime," he said.

The growing humanitarian crisis in Syria is "absolutely appalling," Cameron said, demanding that humanitarian aid be allowed into wherever it is needed.

Seven trucks carrying aid arrived Friday in Homs after the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were given permission to enter the flashpoint neighborhood of Baba Amr, said Saleh Dabbakeh, an ICRC spokesman in Damascus. Red Crescent ambulances were also in Homs, he said.

It was not immediately clear when the aid or ambulances would enter the neighborhood.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian forces executed 10 people near a government building in Baba Amr. And in Rastan, the group reported, at least 10 people died when a shell fired by Syrian forces hit a crowd of demonstrators.

Security forces also raided neighborhoods in Banias and took people into custody in response to efforts to organize protests there following Friday prayers, according to the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, an opposition group. And in Damascus, gunfire wounded five demonstrators in a crowd of protesters emerging from a mosque in the Barzeh neighborhood, the group said.

Elsewhere, Syrian troops reportedly stormed a village near the Turkish border on Friday, wounding two people and forcing opposition members to flee, according to the Syrian Observatory.

In northwest Idlib province, one person died at a security checkpoint while two others died when Syrian forces fired on their car, the group said.

Amid the continuing violence, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Friday that France would close its embassy in Damascus and the European Union formally recognized the opposition Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of Syrian people.

The EU issued a statement demanding Assad's regime bring an immediate end to "the massive violence and human rights abuses inflicted to the civilian population."

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights is "alarmed" by reports coming out of Baba Amr, Rupert Colville, a spokesman for commissioner, said in a statement.

"Although we are not, at this point, in a position to confirm any of those reports, we would like to remind the authorities of their responsibilities under international law. It is essential that there are no unlawful reprisals, no summary executions, no torture, no arbitrary detention," Colville said.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously called on al-Assad to grant immediate access to its humanitarian chief, Valerie Amos.

Amos was denied access this week by the government, who said it was not a "suitable time" to visit, according to Syrian state-run TV.

The statement by the Security Council was signed off on by its 15 member nations, including China and Russia, a Soviet-era ally and arms dealer to Syria. Those nations previously blocked a U.S. resolution condemning the violence and calling for a transfer of power.

Also on Thursday, a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution condemned Syria's "widespread and systematic violations of human rights" and called on the regime to permit aid groups in to distribute relief.

Despite enormous international pressure from the U.N, the United States, the European Union and member nations of the Arab League to bring about an end to the violence, al-Assad has continued to push forward with a brutal crackdown.

The conflict erupted in March of 2011, when al-Assad's Alawite minority-dominated government launched a crackdown against a predominantly Sunni anti-government protest movement that eventually devolved into an uprising with an armed resistance. Al-Assad is an Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The United Nations estimates more than 7,500 people have died, while the Local Coordination Committee of Syria, an opposition group that compiles reports of casualties and violence, said more than 9,000 people have died during the conflict. The Syrian government says more than 2,000 security personnel have been killed in the violence.

CNN can not independently confirm reports of casualties and violence by the opposition and the government because Syria has severely restricted the access of international journalists.

Much of the attention recently over the violence in Syria has been focused on Baba Amr, a neighborhood of five square miles that endured 26 consecutive days of shelling before rebel forces announced a "tactical retreat" on Thursday.

It was not immediately clear how or where the rebel fighters retreated, raising questions about whether the opposition is reconstituting its stronghold somewhere else in the city of Homs.

Syrian forces, backed by tanks, surrounded the neighborhoods of Bab Tadmur and Jib al-Jandali, the Revolutionary Council of Homs said.

Intense fighting was reported in the two Sunni-dominated neighborhoods, and a video posted by an opposition activist claimed to show smoke rising from Bab Tadmur following a shelling attack.

Meanwhile, the French government confirmed two French journalists -- Edith Bouvier and William Daniels -- who were trapped in Baba Amr were safely in Lebanon.

Bouvier was listed in stable condition at a hospital in Beirut and was to be flown to France sometime Friday, said Francois Abi Saab, a French Embassy spokeswoman. The opposition group Avaaz said it helped Bouvier and Daniels to escape.

Bouvier was wounded in an attack last week on a makeshift media center in Baba Amr, which killed French journalist Remi Ochlik and American journalist Marie Colvin.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency claimed late Thursday that authorities had recovered the bodies of Colvin and Ochlik, who the opposition said had been buried in a garden in Homs after aid workers were unable to get their bodies out.

After DNA analysis confirms the identities, they will be handed over to the embassies of Poland, on behalf of the U.S. Embassy, France and Spain, SANA reported.