Russia on Tuesday said it will not attend an international conference in Tunis this week aimed at seeking political change in Syria because the meeting only supported the opposition's cause.

The meeting was called "for the purpose of supporting one side against another in an internal conflict," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "We cannot accept the offer to attend this meeting."

Gunmen assassinated a senior prosecutor and a judge in a restive province in northwest Syria on Sunday, the country's state news agency said, while activists reported that security forces shelled rebel-held areas in the besieged city of Homs.

SANA news agency said gunmen opened fire in the morning on a car carrying Idlib provincial state prosecutor Nidal Ghazal and judge Mohammed Ziadeh.

The renewal of the protocol signed between the Lebanese government and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will likely take effect soon after Beirut failed to make its observations, al-Liwaa daily reported Saturday.

The newspaper said that a document calling on the U.N. Security Council to renew the tribunal’s mandate became part of the official U.N. documents on Friday at around 5:00 pm New York time and will likely be approved soon if the Council expresses no reservations on it.

Amnesty International said the resolution passed by the U.N. General Assembly condemning the Syrian regime for its deadly crackdown on dissent sends "a clear and unequivocal message" that the violence must end.

In a strongly worded resolution adopted by a 137-12 vote on Thursday, U.N. member states demanded that President Bashar Assad's regime stop attacking civilian demonstrators and start pulling its troops back to barracks.

China said Thursday it is sending an envoy to Syria to push for a "peaceful" resolution of the conflict there, after drawing condemnation for vetoing a resolution condemning a crackdown on protesters.

Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun will visit Syria from February 17 to 18, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a regular briefing.

China will not protect the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad, Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday, after Beijing drew international ire for vetoing a UN resolution on the country.

Wen's comments, during an EU-China summit, came after the United Nations' top human rights representative said the world body's inaction had "emboldened" the Syrian government to use overwhelming force against its own civilians.

China -- which drew global ire when it vetoed a resolution on Syria -- said Tuesday one of its diplomats met the Arab League head to discuss the crisis and another envoy would soon go to the Middle East.

China and Russia have faced a barrage of criticism for blocking a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the bloody crackdown on protests in Syria, including from Arab nations with which Beijing normally has good ties.

The European Union backed on Monday an Arab League call for a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Syria and urged the U.N. Security Council to act in order to stop the violence there.

"We welcome these bold decisions and the strong and clear commitment and leadership that the Arab League is taking to resolve the crisis in Syria," said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Asthon.

China refused Monday to say if it backs an Arab League call for the U.N. Security Council to create a joint peacekeeping force for Syria, the latest bid to end the violence that has killed thousands there.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin refused to directly answer repeated questions on whether it would support the league's call. He said China backs the Arab League's "political mediation efforts."

Regime forces resumed their assault on the Syrian protest city of Homs on Monday, activists said, after Damascus rejected an Arab plan to send a peacekeeping force to the unrest-hit country.

Shortly before sunrise, the army launched mortars into Baba Amr, a rebel stronghold in the central city, as forces swept through southern Daraa province arresting dissidents, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.