Archive for May 26, 2012

Bombardment of Syrian village leaves dozens dead – The Washington Post

By Liz Sly, Saturday, May 26, 11:03 AM

BEIRUT —Syrian forces killed dozens of civilians in a village in central Syria, opposition groups and witnesses said Saturday, amid growing questions about the effectiveness of a U.N. monitoring mission that is supposed to be observing a cease-fire. U.N. officials said that at least 32 children were among the dead.

More than 90 people were killed and many more wounded when Syrian troops loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad shelled the village of Taldo in the Houla area northwest of Homs for several hours late Friday, according to the opposition groups and witnesses.

…

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood offered conflicting accounts of what happened. The Observatory said that all of the deaths had occurred in the bombardment, but the Brotherhood reported that some of the victims had been killed when pro-government militias known as shabiha raided homes on the outskirts of the village, hacking and shooting civilians and setting fire to houses.

Ahmed Kassem, a resident of the town, said the villagers all died in the shelling inflicted after clashes erupted during the weekly anti-government protest Friday.

Syrian forces opened fire on the protesters when they spilled out of a mosque after Friday prayers, prompting local armed civilians to fire back, Kassem said, speaking by telephone from the village.

During the exchanges of fire, two Syrian officers and “several” soldiers were killed, he said, and Syrian forces withdrew. At 8 p.m., they began bombarding the village using tanks and artillery, with shells falling at the rate of one a minute until well past midnight, he said.

The account could not be independently confirmed because of reporting restrictions imposed by the Syrian authorities. Activists posted gruesome footage on YouTube of the limp bodies of children and of a mass burial of some of the victims Saturday.

via Bombardment of Syrian village leaves dozens dead – The Washington Post.

BBC News – Syria crisis: Houla child massacre confirmed by UN

UN observers have counted at least 90 bodies, including 32 children, after a Syrian government attack on a town.

UN mission head Maj-Gen Robert Mood told the BBC the killing in Houla was “indiscriminate and unforgivable”.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he would seek a strong global response to the “appalling crime”. UN chief Ban Ki-moon said it was a “flagrant violation of international law”.

Syria’s government has blamed the deaths on “armed terrorist gangs”.

This is one of the bloodiest attacks in one area since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

via BBC News – Syria crisis: Houla child massacre confirmed by UN.

U.N. observers in Syria count more than 92 bodies in Houla carnage

The United Nations‘ observers in Syria on Saturday confirmed that more than 92 people, including dozens of children, were killed in what activists said was an artillery barrage by government forces in the town of Houla, in the province of Homs.

“This morning U.N. military and civilian observers went to Houla and counted more than 32 children under the age of 10 and over 60 adults killed,” the head of U.N. team monitoring the ceasefire – which has yet to take hold – said.

“The observers confirmed from examination of ordinances the use of artillery tank shells,” Major General Robert Mood said in a statement, without elaborating. “Whoever started, whoever responded and whoever carried out this deplorable act of violence should be held responsible.”

In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded “the Government of Syria immediately cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers.”

Ban condemned the Houla carnage as “appalling and brutal” breach of international law.”

Britain said Saturday it was consulting urgently with its allies on “a strong international response.”

“We will be calling for an urgent session of the UN Security Council in the coming days,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement after United Nations monitors confirmed reports of the killings in Houla.

Syrian state television aired some of the footage disseminated by activists, calling the bodies victims of a massacre committed by “terrorist” gangs.

Syrian state television aired some of the footage disseminated by activists, calling the bodies victims of a massacre committed by “terrorist” gangs.

The bloodied bodies of children, some with their skulls split open, were shown in footage posted to YouTube purporting to show the victims of the shelling in the central town of Houla on Friday. The sound of wailing filled the room.

A British-based opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said residents of Houla were fleeing in fear of more shelling.

The reports of the carnage, which could not be confirmed independently, underlined how far Syria is from any negotiated path out of the 14-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

A member of the fragmented exile group that says it speaks for Syria’s political opposition said Assad’s forces had killed “entire families” in Houla in addition to the shelling.

“The Syrian National Council (SNC) urges the U.N. Security Council to call for an emergency meeting … and to determine the responsibility of the United Nations in the face of such mass killings,” SNC spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani said.

Opposition activists said Syrian forces had opened fire with artillery on Friday after skirmishing with insurgents in Houla, a cluster of villages north of the city of Homs, itself battered by shelling.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the violence as a “massacre,” and said he wanted to arrange a meeting in Paris of the Friends of Syria, a group that brings together Western and Arab countries keen to remove Assad.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, has blamed the Syrian government for much of the “unacceptable levels of violence and abuses” occurring every day in violation of a U.N.-backed peace plan.

In a report to the U.N. Security Council, Ban cited the government’s continuing use of heavy weapons, reports of shelling and “a stepped-up security crackdown by the authorities that has led to massive violations of human rights by government forces and pro-government militias.”

Ban lamented that there has been only “small progress” on implementing the six-point plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, who is scheduled to brief the Security Council on Wednesday.

Ban called on the government to keep its pledge to immediately stop the violence, pull heavy weapons and troops out of populated areas, allow humanitarian workers to help needy civilians and end human rights abuses.

via U.N. observers in Syria count more than 92 bodies in Houla carnage.

Wikipedia: The Houla Region, or the Houla Plain, (سهل الحولة), is is made up of several villages in the Syrian Homs Governorate, north of the city of Homs. →

Saudi diplomat held by Yemen’s Qaeda appeals for his release in new video

By Al Arabiya With Agencies

Suspected al-Qaeda militants in Yemen have posted a video on the internet for a Saudi diplomat kidnapped nearly a month ago in Yemen’s south appealing to King Abdullah to meet Al-Qaeda demands to secure his release.

“I appeal to King Abdullah… and the Saudi government to save me and release me from al-Qaeda organization in return for releasing the sisters detained in (Saudi) general investigation prisons and fulfilling the remaining demands of the organization,” Abdullah al-Khalidi said in the video, posted late on Friday and published by SITE Intelligence Group.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula abducted Khalidi, Saudi Arabia’s deputy consul in Yemen’s main southern city of Aden, on March 28 in a bid to secure the release of prisoners and collect a ransom.

via Saudi diplomat held by Yemen’s Qaeda appeals for his release in new video.