No U.N. action, Syrian Baathists resign

DAMASCUS, Syria, April 28 (UPI) -- The breakdown in the values of the Syrian Baath Party during heightened unrest forced many leaders to leave the organization, members said.

Hundreds of members of the Baath Party in Syria resigned in protest amid what appears to be a brutal crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators in the country.

Foreign media outlets are relying on unconfirmed accounts and amateur video in reporting that Syrian forces are attacking civilians. The official Syrian Arab News Agency, however, blames much of the violence on foreigners and bandits.

Members of the Baath Party accused security forces of firing on mosques and other sites, blaming the regime in Damascus for destabilizing the country.

"Considering the breakdown of values and emblems that we were instilled with by the party and which were destroyed at the hand of the security forces ... we announce our withdrawal from the party without regret," Baath Party members said in a letter quoted by The Guardian newspaper in London.

Syrian President Bashar Assad enacted a series of reforms meant to ease public scrutiny during the social upheaval.

Susan Rice, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said the level of violence in Syria suggested Damascus wasn't serious about reform, however. "Words must be backed by actions to ensure real reform in Syria," she said in statements Wednesday.

The U.N. Security Council failed to agree on an official statement condemning the Syrian violence, however.