Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Syria accused of new massacre as U.N. meets
Source: Reuters
Syria accused of new massacre as U.N. meets
By Mariam Karouny and Erika Solomon
BEIRUT | Wed Jun 6, 2012 7:22pm EDT
(Reuters) - Syrian troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stood accused by opponents on Thursday of a new massacre of scores of villagers hours before a divided United Nations Security Council convenes to review the crisis.
If confirmed, the killings of at least 78 people at Mazraat al-Qabeer, near Hama, will pile on pressure for world powers to act, but there is little sign they can overcome a paralysis born of sharp divisions between Western and Arab states on the one hand and Assad's defenders in Russia, China and Iran.
Several activists who monitor the 15-month-old revolt gave accounts to Reuters that women and children were among the dead when the village in central Syria came under artillery bombardment before fighters moved in on the ground and shot and stabbed dozens of people to death.
Echoing descriptions of a massacre of 108 civilians at Houla on May 25, which U.N. observers attributed to Assad's troops and loyalist 'shabbiha' militia, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said: "Shabbiha headed into the area after the shelling and killed dozens of citizens, among them women and children."
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
By Mariam Karouny and Erika Solomon
BEIRUT | Wed Jun 6, 2012 7:22pm EDT
(Reuters) - Syrian troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stood accused by opponents on Thursday of a new massacre of scores of villagers hours before a divided United Nations Security Council convenes to review the crisis.
If confirmed, the killings of at least 78 people at Mazraat al-Qabeer, near Hama, will pile on pressure for world powers to act, but there is little sign they can overcome a paralysis born of sharp divisions between Western and Arab states on the one hand and Assad's defenders in Russia, China and Iran.
Several activists who monitor the 15-month-old revolt gave accounts to Reuters that women and children were among the dead when the village in central Syria came under artillery bombardment before fighters moved in on the ground and shot and stabbed dozens of people to death.
Echoing descriptions of a massacre of 108 civilians at Houla on May 25, which U.N. observers attributed to Assad's troops and loyalist 'shabbiha' militia, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said: "Shabbiha headed into the area after the shelling and killed dozens of citizens, among them women and children."
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/06/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE84S0P020120606
