U.N. condemns Syria, gov't mounts assault Demonstrators take part in a angry protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers in Binsh near Idlib in Syria, February 24, 2012. Syrian troops shelled the rebel stronghold in Homs for the 22nd straight day, after a pause allowed relief workers to evacuate some civilians, monitors said. DAMASCUS, Syria, March 1 (UPI) -- Syrian troops mounted a feared all-out ground assault on a rebel-held Homs neighborhood Thursday as the United Nations voted to condemn President Bashar Assad. The U.N. Human Rights Council voted Thursday in Geneva to condemn Assad's government for widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Britain announced it was closing its embassy in Damascus because of the deteriorating situation. The non-binding human rights measure was approved by 37 nations. Russia, China and Cuba voted against it. The U.N. accused Syria of "force against civilians, arbitrary executions, the killing and persecution of protestors, human rights defenders and journalists, including recent deaths of Syrian and foreign journalists, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, interference with access to medical treatment, torture, sexual violence and ill-treatment, including against children. Thousands of innocent civilians have died in the past 11 months in the government's crackdown on opposition activists. Tens of thousands of Syrians have had to flee their homes, the United Nations said. The U.N. measure calls for the Syrian government to immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against civilians and "allow free and unimpeded access by the United Nations and humanitarian agencies to carry out a full assessment of needs in Homs and other areas, and to permit humanitarian agencies to deliver vital relief goods and services to all civilians affected by the violence." In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the British Embassy would close and pulled all personnel from the country, advising other British nationals to leave as well, The Washington Post reported. "My decision to withdraw staff from the British Embassy in Damascus in no way reduces the U.K.'s commitment to active diplomacy to maintain pressure on the Assad regime to end the violence," Hague said in a statement. We will continue to work closely with other nations to coordinate diplomatic and economic pressure on the Syrian regime. The Syrian army distributed gas masks to its soldiers last month, The Daily Telegraph reported, while Assad forces transferred grenades and mortars containing chemical agents to a Homs school building, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Syria stymied U.N. efforts to address the crisis by refusing Wednesday to let the top U.N. humanitarian official, Valerie Amos, enter the country.