The Arab League demanded Syria end its brutal crackdown of peaceful protest on Tuesday.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Syria could descend into "civil war" and criticised Assad's regime for failing to "listen to the voice of the people."
The Turkish Prime Minister recently embarked on a tour of Arab Spring states emerging from the shadow of repressive dictators. Currently in Egypt, Erdogan is due to visit Tunisia and Libya shortly.
The UN estimate on the number of protesters killed was raised to 2600 on Monday at the UNHRC.
Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated, “the situation in Syria is still dire.”
Amid such casualty figures and harrowing tails of torture and abuse by Syrian security forces, the appointment a three member panel to investigate the allegations was announced on Monday.
However it remains uncertain how the investigation will take place, as President Assad has not granted the panel permission to visit the country.
The three-member panel will be led by Sérgio Pinheiro of Brazil, former United Nations investigator of political repression in Myanmar, Yakin Erturk of Turkey, a sociology professor and expert on women’s rights, and Karen Abu Zayd, an American, who is the former head of the UN body responsible for distributing relief to Palestinian refugees.
Efforts by the West at the UN Security Council, to impose sanctions on the regime, continue to face stern opposition by Moscow and Beijing however.
President Dmitry Medvedev stated Monday, "this resolution must be strict, but it must not lead to the automatic application of sanctions." Moscow is reportedly proposing a watered-down resolution calling on Assad's regime and the opposition to commence talks.
Anti-Assad activists have condemned Moscow's stance.
Russian flags have been burnt in recent days and activists have been posting messages on websites saying "Do not support the killers".
"We express our anger towards Russia and the Russian government. The regime will disappear but the people will live," the activists added.
