At least 55 killed in 'new massacre' in Syria

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The Syrian Observatory of Human rights on Wednesday (June 6th) accused pro-regime militiamen on Wednesday (June 6th) of killing at least 55 people in an assault on Kubeir, Hama province.

Among the dead are 18 women and children, AFP reported.

The Observatory said armed men, known as shabiha, went on a killing spree, hacking, stabbing and shooting residents as they tried to flee.

United Nations monitors trying to get to the scene of the "new massacre" were shot at, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday, calling the killings "shocking and sickening".

Ban discussed the massacre in a speech to the UN General Assembly hours after the killings.

"UN monitors were initially denied access [to Kubeir]," Ban told the assembly.

"They are working now to get to the scene and I just learned a few minutes ago that while trying to do so, the UN monitors were shot at with small arms," he said.

A resident of the area named Laith told AFP he saw bodies of women and children on the ground.

"I saw something you cannot imagine. It was a horrifying massacre […] People were executed and burned. Bodies of young men were taken away," he said.

More than 100 people dead, including 49 children and 34 women, died in a similar massacre in Houla last month.

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    محمد

    2012-6-11

    The Syrian Revolution is the most beautiful, fresh and pure expression of what is inside the citizens. Only in this revolution, they break down injustice and tyranny and do not care how many they have of martyrs and wounded. They are all sacrifices for this country and it's sad to see the Syrian army, which is supposedly the protector of the nation, become a brutal killing machine that did not shed tears for the dead they left behind them as if they were enemies of the homeland. Why all this for one person only, someone may ask them. Did not they hold themselves accountable for those, didn’t they feel the pain of guilt if they imagine that the pain of being killed or tortured is an individual from their family? But only condolences to the dead martyrs, they have provision with their Lord. The Syrian citizens face these difficulties for their freedom, which is to improve education, industry, agriculture, health insurance and the elimination of unemployment and other rights that are right for each free citizen. But the Assad regime refused to give them all the rights, but his only concern, like any dictator ruler, is the seat of government. He did not work for the rest of his countrymen, but made them suffer from poverty, disease and practices of the security services so that the Syrian citizens suffer various kinds of oppression and injustice. When he heard the call of his people he did not meet the appeal, but revealed his true evil, and showed them his carelessness about them and the value of the Syrian citizen. He has never listened anyone to end those practices on the nation. Bashar al-Assad lost his score a long time ago among the Syrian people and no matter what he does they will not be subject to him. Each martyr that drops will increase their strength in facing him and his army, and we have seen in recent months how many of his soldiers split with him. They have turned into a weapon directed against him and every day that passes will increase the split with him to see him face what a lot of his predecessors among the rulers faced, and the end will be worse than the end of his peer Gaddafi. The right will triumph always no matter how long it takes, and those like Bashar al-Assad will remain a bad memory and Syria will see light in order to erase all the injustice on that coming day.

  • سالم ياسين

    2012-6-8

    It is too late for any efforts that may persuade the Army to return to its barracks, particularly after they have been responsible for murdering the unarmed innocents, or to persuade the forces of Syrian civil society to discuss the matter. In fact, what happened up to the present has definitely proven that the Syrian regime which has been in power since 1970 is a police regime that believes in nothing but repression to resolve problems. In fact, such an Arab and international mobility, declarations and communications refer to a new international stance after a long period of silence that has been confined to declarations and show without any serious and decisive measures against the Syrian regime. Indeed, some Syrian political observers and analysts believe that the American position has not been decisive in the past and that the American Government and even European countries have not decided to overthrow the Syrian regime but it has always been equivocal. Today, however, it seems that they have taken their decision. Thus, we can say that the first steps of internationalization have actually begun. The observers of the Syrian situation are wondering about the expected measures in this respect, whether this will consist of severe sanctions against the Syrian regime, buffer zones, civilian and military air blockade, bombing the Syrian missiles, air and communication bases and some other establishments as it was the case in Libya, or some steps that will end with a land military invasion as was the case in Iraq. Perhaps the observers agree that the Security Council will decide about gradual internationalization steps which may start with non-military measures and end with military actions, taking into account the Russian position on the one hand, and in order to avoid the provocation of Arabs and the opponents of this internationalization on the other hand.

  • وهاب

    2012-6-8

    Some Syrian political analysts believe that it is possible to avoid the internationalization of the conflict by implementating the Arab League’s initiative, which is based on four points: stopping the violence and withdrawing the army from the villages and cities, in addition releasing detainees, and allowing the foreign and Arab press to enter into Syria. Then, a serious dialogue with the opposition should start under the supervision of the Arab League. It seems that the Syrian regime had not yet realized that the early steps of internationalization have begun, and that it has to solve the problems and start serious reforms in order to avoid the internationalization of the crisis, which means that it will not be limited to the Arabs, but would be placed in the hands of foreign powers, which will consider their interests as an integral part of the process of internationalization. If this happens, the regime in Syria will not only fall, but this would also destroy the Syrian state, especially the defensive means (missile launchers, air bases, communications) and facilities of the public sector (electricity, oil installations, etc.), as well as the destruction of the administration and sending Syria back to the Middle Ages. This is and what we have seen in Iraq, despite the fact that the regime depends on the pretext that it is still able to prevent the situation, despite the escalation, from reaching a state of civil war through the role played by the army, which is deployed in the confessional contact areas to prevent any friction and without being involved in a face-to-face civil conflict in the Lebanese way. The dissenters failed in securing a command center inside Syria, while they receive their orders from their leaders, who are located at the Turkish-Syrian borders. The militias move with the weapons that they take as booty and work as inexperienced small militias that lack the leadership and the hierarchical order to coordinate their operations. The opposition also does not have heavy weapons, and this means that they are similar to the armed organization of the Muslim Brotherhood without having their organization, fury, and determination. The army and intelligence are able to move throughout Syrian territory; even the withdrawal from some villages overrun by the insurgents and dissidents was followed by a strict siege on them to prevent them from contacting other places so that the regime can control the country even as it starts losing control over the country gradually.

  • رشاد

    2012-6-8

    The Syrian crisis in the recent period has witnessed a new turning point that differs from the circumstances at the eruption of the peaceful demonstrations and protests that reached the point of armed conflict because the Syrian authorities preferred the suppressive and security solution at the hands of the army and the police to end the demonstrations and prevent them from continuing. However, the results went in the opposite direction. All attempts to convince the Syrian authorities of the necessity of reaching a peaceful and civil solution failed, because some military and police commanders consider that there are no opposition or any civil rights outside the boundaries of the security, military and partisan institutions. All the approaches to solve the problem were ridiculous, meaningless, and unconvincing. All the indications and indicators of the weakness of the media and political performance increased until things reached a new turning point when thousands of Syrians fled the inferno in their homeland and became refugees in Turkey and northern Iraq, which opened its lands and housed them in camps. The regime promised the Syrians after the intervention of the Arab League and the UN and a team of the observers was sent for the purpose of ensuring quick reforms such as the cancellation of the state of emergency, drafting a law of parties and restoring the freedoms and democracy, as well as amending certain articles in the constitution. However, this did not happen. Rather, the army brigades entered the cities and villages to create havoc and they prevented the media coverage of any kind. Syria has no friends except some states that are content with watching and object to anyone trying to persuade Syria to abandon the security solutions and to focus on the political and civil solutions instead.