Palestinian flag raised at UNESCO after admission

PARIS, Dec 13, (agencies): The Palestinian flag was raised for the first time Tuesday above a UN agency, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, in a diplomatic victory won despite stiff resistance from the US and Israel. President Mahmud Abbas looked on as the flag was raised and the Palestinian anthem played, just weeks after Palestine won admission to UNESCO in move that sparked fury and reprisals from Washington and Israel. "President Abbas wants to show the importance he attaches to UNESCO," a Palestinian diplomat said ahead of the ceremony. "And this is the first time that the flag will be flown at the headquarters of a UN institution." UNESCO said the flag-hoisting was a symbolic ceremony "to mark Palestine's admission to the organisation" that takes place each time a new member joins. Israeli settlers attack army base, Jordan border site Jewish settlers attacked an army base overnight on rumours troops were to destroy a settlement outpost, hours after another group broke into a military zone on the Jordan border, officials said. In a statement Tuesday, the military said a group of around 50 people had attacked the Ephraim base near Qalqilya in the northern West Bank. The incident took place after rumours reportedly began circling in the settler community that troops were poised to dismantle several outposts set up without Israeli government permission. Rebels kill Syria forces in retaliation Army defectors on Tuesday killed seven members of Syria's security forces in retaliation for an attack that cost the lives of 11 civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "Seven security force members were killed in an ambush by deserters on a convoy patrolling the Idlib-Bab al-Hawa road in response to the martyrdom of 11 civilians this morning," the Observatory said in a statement received by AFP. Syria should be referred to ICC, UN's Navi Pillay says The top United Nations human rights official has told the Security Council that Syria should be referred to the International Criminal Court over its crackdown on anti-government protests, report agencies. Navi Pillay said she felt widespread killings and torture in the country "constituted crimes against humanity". Ms Pillay put the number of those killed by security forces in the nine-month uprising at more than 5,000. Syria's UN envoy said Ms Pillay was "not objective and "not fair". Ms Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a closed session of the Security Council that 300 children had been among those killed since the start of the uprising in March. Meanwhile: Security forces and militiamen loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Tuesday shot dead 11 people and wounded dozens more in northwestern Idlib province, a rights group said. Meanwhile:Russia Tuesday said Western accusations that it was blocking UN action condemning the Syrian regime's crackdown on the opposition were "immoral" because the West was refusing to put pressure on armed rebel groups.