Syria condemned for Houla massacre and shelling by UN

BBC ^ | Friday, May 25, 2012 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

The UN Security Council has condemned the use of heavy weapons by Syria's government during a massacre in which 108 people were killed and 300 injured...

Going into the meeting, Syria's big-power ally, Russia, made it clear that it needed to be convinced of the Syrian government's culpability for what had happened at Houla...

Opposition activists say the Syrian military bombarded Houla after demonstrations. They say that some of the victims were killed during the shelling, while others were shot dead at close range by the regime militia known as the "shabiha"...

Russia's deputy ambassador to the United Nations told journalists that it was not clear who was responsible for the deaths -- and denied charges that most of the deaths were caused by army shelling...

Mr Annan is expected to visit Damascus on Monday for talks.

But the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) said it could no longer commit to the ceasefire unless the Security Council could ensure that civilians were protected.

In a statement, the FSA said that if urgent steps were not taken, then Mr Annan's plan was "going to hell".

It said killings in Syria were taking place "under the eyes of the UN observers," and called on states to "announce the failure of the Annan plan".

Original headline -- "Syria condemned for Houla massacre and shelling by UN" -- implies the UN did the shelling.

[SunkenCiv]

Original headline -- "Syria condemned for Houla massacre and shelling by UN" -- implies the UN did the shelling.

[SunkenCiv]

The Pravda contingent should be arriving any second.

Syrian bombardment of Hama kills 41 -- Monday, May 28, 2012 -- Images of bloodied and lifeless young bodies, laid carefully side by side after the onslaught on Friday, triggered shock around the world and underlined the failure of a six-week-old UN ceasefire plan to stop the violence. Western and Arab states opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad put the blame for the deaths squarely on the government.

[donozark]

“The UN is not your friend.” More than just a bumper sticker...

[donozark]

Kofi Annan was in charge of UN Peacekeeping Operations during the Rwanda Genocide, 1993. The FSA should ask the Tutsis how effective he was...

[Truth29]

Not to be overly cynical, but I am always struck that these types of reports (government vs. media described democracy fighters) that there are so many children killed or reported killed. What is the real truth? I doubt we will ever know.

[MasterGunner01]

When I first read the headline I thought Syria had massacred the UN at Houla. My bad.

[stormer]

Here, Mr. Cynical, count them yourself... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jffUNQw8Fl8&skipcontrinter=1

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Wishful thinking. ;’) I wanted to change the headline to “Syria condemned by UN for Houla massacre and shelling”, but that’s a no-no. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks.

[Truth29]

But where did they come from? Were they massed around probable targets, already dead, killed by the militants to create a media firestorm, etc? All things are possible in the Middle East.

[Uncle Chip]

Are you for real????

[Truth29]

Absolutely, all these things are possible and more. What I am saying is that we don't know, nor will know what happened from these reports. Life is cheap on all sides in the Middle East. Islamists and propaganda and fakery have been frequently used. Look at the various Lebanon actions for examples. Another example of the disputes over evidence involving the Israelis is attached;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qana_airstrikep

[Uncle Chip]

Except that the Syrian regime under the Assadists has a long and documented history of massacring their own people. It is the trademark and MO of the Assad regime:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre