* Death toll from alleged shelling of town soars
* France condemns “massacre”
* Syria blames “terrorist gangs”
(Adds Ban Ki-moon, William Hague statements)
By Joseph Logan
BEIRUT, May 26 (Reuters) – The United Nations said on
Saturday that more than 92 people were killed in what activists
said was an artillery barrage by government forces in the worst
violence since the start of a U.N. peace plan to slow the flow
of blood in Syria’s uprising.
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.
The carnage underlined just how far Syria is from any
negotiated path out of the 14-month-old revolt against President
Bashar al-Assad.
“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 centres”.
Activists said Assad’s forces shelled the town of Houla on
Friday evening after security forces killed a protester and
following skirmishes between troops and fighters from the Sunni
Muslim-led insurgency fighting Syria’s rulers, who belong to the
minority Alawite sect.
A British-based opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, said Houla residents fled, fearing more shelling.
It said one person was killed in the northern town of Saraqeb
when troops fired on a protest against the killing.
Syrian state television aired some of the footage
disseminated by activists after the killing in Houla, calling
the bodies victims of a massacre committed by “terrorist” gangs.
It also showed video of bodies with what looked like gunshot
wounds to the head, sprawled on bloodstained mattresses.
Activists distributed footage appearing to show protests in
Aleppo, the largest city in the north.
FAMILIES KILLED
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.
Although Annan’s six-week old ceasefire plan has failed to
stop the violence, the United Nations is nearing full deployment
of a 300-strong unarmed observer force meant to monitor a truce.
The plan calls for a truce, withdrawal of troops from cities
and dialogue between the government and opposition.
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.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was coordinating
a “strong response” to the killings and would call for the
Security Council to meet in the coming days.
In a statement, Arab League head Nabil Elaraby called the
killing in Houla a “horrific crime”, urging the U.N. Security
Council – where Russia and China have protected Syria – to “stop
the escalation of killing and violence by armed gangs and
government military forces.”
Syria calls the revolt a “terrorist” conspiracy run from
abroad, a veiled reference to Sunni Muslim Gulf powers that want
to see weapons provided to an insurgency led by Syria’s majority
Sunnis against Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect.
“TERRORIST GROUPS”
Ban said on Friday that recent bomb attacks may have been
the work of “established terrorist groups” and urged states not
to supply arms to either the government or rebel forces.
“Those who may contemplate supporting any side with weapons,
military training or other military assistance, must reconsider
such options to enable a sustained cessation of violence,” he
told the Security Council in a letter.
The United Nations has accused Assad’s forces and insurgents
alike of grave human rights abuses, including summary executions
and torture.
Ban has also expressed fear that Syria’s conflict will
destabilise neighbouring Lebanon, whose delicate sect-based
politics has been shaken by tensions among Lebanese foes and
friends of the uprising in Syria.
In the latest episode, gunmen in northern Syria snatched a
group of Lebanese Shi’ites this week as they were returning from
a religious pilgrimage, deepening unrest after sectarian
fighting in northern Lebanon and battles between pro- and
anti-Syrian Sunni factions in the capital over the last two
weeks.
Uncertainty over their increased tension in Beirut on
Saturday, a day after Lebanon’s top officials said the release
of the hostages and their return home was imminent. Shi’ites had
blocked roads and burned tyres after hearing of the abduction.
The prime minister said on Friday afternoon they had been
freed, but by Saturday there was still no sign of them. A member
of the SNC said they were still in captivity, further angering a
crowd that had gathered at Beirut’s airport to meet them.
(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir in Cairo; Editing by Jon
Hemming)
