A UN panel said Thursday, May 24, the army was to blame for most rights abuses in the latest violence that has swept Syria, as a watchdog reported renewed military shelling of a rebel bastion, according to AFP.

Syria's main opposition bloc began searching for a new leader after Paris-based academic Burhan Ghalioun formally resigned, meanwhile, as the regime said parliament convened for the first time since elections.

In Geneva, the UN-appointed Commission of Inquiry on Syria said the army and security forces were responsible for the majority of the serious abuses committed since March this year as they hunt down defectors and opponents.

"Most of the serious human rights violations documented by the Commission in this update were committed by the Syrian army and security services as part of military or search operations conducted in locations known for hosting defectors and/or armed persons, or perceived as supportive of anti-government armed groups," said the panel.

These violations were committed "as part of military or search operations conducted in locations known for hosting defectors and/or armed persons, or perceived as supportive of anti-government armed groups," it said.

The panel said "a clear pattern" had emerged of government blockades to "weed out" wanted people and their families, causing children to die for lack of adequate health care.