The UN Security Council strongly condemned the Syrian government for
using artillery in a massacre in which at least 108 people were killed
and 300 others injured, reports AFP.
UN officials said the slaughter in Houla -- the subject of an emergency
Security Council meeting -- claimed the lives of 49 children and 34
women.
Russia, Syria's main ally, signed up to the Security Council statement
which "condemned in the strongest possible terms" the killings in the
village near the protest city of Homs.
The statement said the deaths had been confirmed by UN observers and
were the result of "attacks that involved a series of government
artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighbourhood."
The 15-nation council made a new demand for President Bashar al-Assad
to withdraw heavy weapons from populated areas -- in line with the peace
plan of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan -- and said that "those
responsible for acts of violence must be held accountable."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Annan have called the Houla massacre a "flagrant violation of international law".
Thousands of people took part in nationwide protests against the Houla killings on Sunday.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a
Syrian military offensive on Sunday left 33 people dead in and around
the restive town of Hama, bringing the nationwide death toll for the day
to 48.
Britain and France had proposed a UN statement making an even stronger
condemnation of the Assad government. But Russia would not agree on the
wording and demanded a special meeting before approving the statement.
The Syrian government has denied any responsibility for the deaths and
Russia still does not accept that the Damascus government is to blame,
its diplomats said.
"It still remains unclear what happened and what triggered what,"
Russia's deputy UN ambassador Igor Pankin told reporters after the
meeting.
"There are substantial grounds to believe that the majority of those
who were killed were either slashed, cut by knives, or executed at point
blank distance," Pankin said before the meeting.
"It is difficult to imagine that the Syrian government would not only
shell... but also use point-black execution" against dozens of women and
children, he said.
The government was "not at all" to blame for the Houla massacre, Syrian
foreign ministry spokesman Jihad al-Makdissi insisted earlier. Syria's
UN envoy Bashar Jaafari said accusations of government responsibility
were part of a "tsunami of lies" against Damascus.
A UN source told AFP that an investigation had found that an artillery
barrage of Houla on Friday was followed by an attack by militia fighters
shortly after.
Major General Robert Mood, head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria
(UNSMIS), gave details of the UN investigation by video conference. He
said the opposition Free Syrian Army had given a death toll of 116 but
that UN observers had seen 108 bodies.
Mood said there were signs of tank shelling, mortar fire and "physical
abuse," and said the deaths were from "shrapnel" and gunfire at
"point-blank" range, diplomats at the closed-door UN meeting said.
"The evidence is clear, the evidence is not murky, and there is a clear
footprint of the government in this massacre," Germany's UN envoy Peter
Wittig told reporters.
Special envoy Annan is to go to Damascus on Monday, the Syrian foreign
ministry said. He has said he will renew condemnation of the Houla
killings as he seeks to rescue his six-point peace plan.
There are now more than 280 unarmed military observers in Syria to
monitor a cessation of hostilities that started on April 12 but lurches
closer to collapse each day.
UN leader Ban said the Houla massacre has added to pressure on the UN
observers, as some in the conflict-stricken country blame them for an
increase in violence. He said the observers were now in a "perilous"
position.
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