UN monitors reach massacre site as strife continues across Syria
Source: Agencies |
June 9, 2012, Saturday
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UN monitors entered the Syrian hamlet of Mazraat al-Qubeir yesterday, where up to 78 people were reported killed in cold blood two days earlier, and a BBC correspondent with them said it was clear a "terrible crime" had taken place.
"It was an appalling scene," said the correspondent, Paul Danahar. "What we didn't find were any bodies. What we did find were tracks (that) the UN said looked like armored personnel carriers or tanks."
Many Syrian civilians are fleeing their homes to escape widening fighting between security forces and rebels, the Red Cross said, while the outside world seems unable to craft an alternative to envoy Kofi Annan's failing peace plan.
"Some say that the plan may be dead," Annan said before meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.
"Is the problem the plan or the problem its implementation?" he asked. "If it's implementation, how do we get action on that? And if it is the plan, what other options do we have?"
The UN monitors reached the farming settlement of Mazraat al-Qubeir, where about 150 people had lived, a day after Syrian armed forces and villagers had turned them away.
"It is not hard to verify, as soon as you walk into the first house you are hit by the stench of burnt flesh," the BBC's Danahar said. "You can see that a terrible crime has taken place, everything has been burnt."
"The most distressing scenes were at the house next door. I walked in and saw pieces of brains on the floor," he said.
Activists say at least 78 people were shot, stabbed or burned alive in the Sunni Muslim hamlet on Wednesday.
Some 300 UN observers are in Syria to monitor a truce between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels that Annan declared on April 12 but was never implemented.
They have verified one massacre in Houla, a town where 108 men, women and children were killed on May 25. The UN peacekeeping chief said Syrian troops and pro-Assad militia were probably responsible.
Syrian authorities have blamed the killings on "terrorists."
Meanwhile, protests and strife erupted across Syria yesterday.
A car bomb aimed at a bus carrying security men in Damascus killed at least two, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said. Another car bomb hit a police branch in northwestern city Idlib, killing at least five people, it said.
Syrian forces shelled and tried to storm the rebel-held district of Khalidiya in the central city of Homs, the observatory said.
Incidents were also reported in the northern city of Aleppo and in Deraa, in the south, and Kfar Souseh in Damascus.
"It was an appalling scene," said the correspondent, Paul Danahar. "What we didn't find were any bodies. What we did find were tracks (that) the UN said looked like armored personnel carriers or tanks."
Many Syrian civilians are fleeing their homes to escape widening fighting between security forces and rebels, the Red Cross said, while the outside world seems unable to craft an alternative to envoy Kofi Annan's failing peace plan.
"Some say that the plan may be dead," Annan said before meeting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.
"Is the problem the plan or the problem its implementation?" he asked. "If it's implementation, how do we get action on that? And if it is the plan, what other options do we have?"
The UN monitors reached the farming settlement of Mazraat al-Qubeir, where about 150 people had lived, a day after Syrian armed forces and villagers had turned them away.
"It is not hard to verify, as soon as you walk into the first house you are hit by the stench of burnt flesh," the BBC's Danahar said. "You can see that a terrible crime has taken place, everything has been burnt."
"The most distressing scenes were at the house next door. I walked in and saw pieces of brains on the floor," he said.
Activists say at least 78 people were shot, stabbed or burned alive in the Sunni Muslim hamlet on Wednesday.
Some 300 UN observers are in Syria to monitor a truce between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels that Annan declared on April 12 but was never implemented.
They have verified one massacre in Houla, a town where 108 men, women and children were killed on May 25. The UN peacekeeping chief said Syrian troops and pro-Assad militia were probably responsible.
Syrian authorities have blamed the killings on "terrorists."
Meanwhile, protests and strife erupted across Syria yesterday.
A car bomb aimed at a bus carrying security men in Damascus killed at least two, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said. Another car bomb hit a police branch in northwestern city Idlib, killing at least five people, it said.
Syrian forces shelled and tried to storm the rebel-held district of Khalidiya in the central city of Homs, the observatory said.
Incidents were also reported in the northern city of Aleppo and in Deraa, in the south, and Kfar Souseh in Damascus.
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