* Russia says most victims were killed by knives, shot
* UK disagrees with Russia, says most killed by government
(Adds British envoy, statement by Ban and Annan, background)
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, May 27 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council
met on Sunday to discuss the recent massacre in the Syrian town
of Houla, which the United Nations and Western powers blamed on
the Syrian government but Damascus an d Moscow suggested was due
to a rebel attack.
At least 116 people, including many children, were killed in
the Houla attack, the head of the U.N. observer mission in Syria
General Robert Mood told the 15-nation council, according to a
diplomat who was in the closed-door meeting. The diplomat spoke
to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alexander Pankin told
reporters Moscow was skeptical about suggestions that the Syrian
government was behind the massacre, saying it appeared most of
the victims were killed with knives or shot at point-blank
range.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant disagreed.
“It seems quite clear that the massacre in Houla was caused
by heavy bombardment, by government artillery and tanks,” Lyall
Grant said ahead of the meeting.
Security Council diplomats said they hoped to agree on some
kind of condemnation of the massacre, though Russia was clearly
at odds with the Western powers regarding who was to blame.
Lyall Grant was asked if he thought the Houla massacre could
finally bring Russia and China around to support sanctions
against Damascus, something Moscow and Beijing have so far
rejected. He referred to Russia’s doubts about the Syrian
government’s responsibility for the onslaught on Houla.
“It doesn’t sound promising,” Lyall Grant said.
Russia has accused the United States and Europe of pursuing
Libya-style regime change in Syria, where President Bashar
al-Assad has been trying to crush a 14-month-old insurgency that
began peacefully but has become increasingly militarized.
Syria is home to Russia’s only warm-water port outside the
former Soviet Union and is a major purchaser of Russian weapons.
The emergency council meeting was called after Russia
rejected a French and British proposal for a statement
condemning the massacre, diplomats said on condition of
anonymity.
Moscow, which remains a staunch ally of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad, told other members of the 15-nation council
that it wanted a briefing from Mood before agreeing to a
statement, envoys said.
Mood spoke to the Security Council via a video link from
Damascus.
In contrast to the Russian envoy’s suggestions that the
rebels were to blame for Houla, U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon and international mediator Kofi Annan, Ban’s
predecessor, issued a joint statement on Saturday in which they
made clear they held the government responsible for the
massacre.
“This appalling and brutal crime involving indiscriminate
and disproportionate use of force is a flagrant violation of
international law and of the commitments of the Syrian
Government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population
centers and violence in all its forms,” Ban and Annan said.
Annan brokered a peace plan earlier this year that called
for a truce, deployment of U.N. observers to monitor the
ceasefire, humanitarian access and dialogue between the
opposition and government aimed at a “political transition.”
But a truce declared for April 12 never took hold and Ban
reported last week that there has been little progress on the
other aspects of Annan’s six-point plan. Annan is scheduled to
brief the council on Wednesday about his mediation efforts.
(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Philip Barbara and
Jackie Frank)
