UN blocked from new Syrian massacre
United Nations observers have been blocked by Syrian troops from the site of a new mass killing, the head of the monitoring team said today.
General Robert Mood said some UN patrols were also stopped by civilians in the area and that observers were informed by residents that their safety would be at risk if they entered Mazraat al-Qubair in central Hama province.
Syrian opposition groups say pro-government militiamen killed dozens of people, including women and children, in Mazraat al-Qubair last night, with some stabbed to death and others burned.
The exact death toll and circumstances remain impossible to confirm.
The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights said dozens were killed, and the Local Co-ordination Committees group said more than 78 people died, including many women and children.
It said pro-government militiamen known as shabiha first shelled the farming area and then went in and killed the residents.
Syria's main opposition group in exile, the Syrian National Council, also said 78 people were killed. It said 35 were from the same family and more than half were women and children.
It said the militiamen converged on Qubair from neighbouring pro-regime villages. It said some of the dead were killed execution-style, and others were attacked with knives.
The violence comes on the heels of a horrific massacre in late May in Houla, a cluster of villages in central Homs province, which left more than 100 dead including many children and women gunned down in their homes.
UN investigators blamed pro-government gunmen for at least some of those killings but the Syrian regime denied responsibility and blamed rebels for the deaths.
The Houla massacre triggered international outrage and a co-ordinated expulsion of Syrian diplomats from world capitals.
Syria denied the reports of a new massacre as "absolutely baseless", blaming "an armed terrorist group" and claiming the death toll was nine women and children.
Gen Mood said the mission "is concerned about the restriction imposed on its movement as it will impede our ability to monitor, observe and report".
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton condemned the Syrian government for "simply unconscionable" violence, accusing president Bashar Assad of intensifying a crackdown that has already killed thousands.
"The regime-sponsored violence that we witnessed again in Hama yesterday is simply unconscionable. Assad has doubled down on his brutality and duplicity, and Syria will not, cannot, be peaceful, stable or certainly democratic until Assad goes."
Amateur video posted on the internet purported to show the bodies of babies, children and two women wrapped in blankets and lined with frozen bottles of water to slow their corpses from rotting in a large room with brightly patterned red carpet.
Another row of bodies lay elsewhere: a grandmother, a mother, and five siblings and two cousins, according to the video narrator, all wrapped in white sheets, more frozen water bottles tucked between them.
One toddler's arm covered her face. Their names were scrawled on pieces of paper and tucked into their shrouds.
In another video, the camera pans over to four blackened, charred objects too disfigured to be identified as human bodies. The narrator said they were of a mother and two children who were shelled in their home.
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Bill Khan
Jun 8th 2012, 13:31
Could it be that the massacres were committed by the agencies of countries desperately trying to ouster Assad? the US, the Britsish , Israelis, the Saudis the qataris all want him removed to isolate Iran. These players are arming the infiltrators in Syria, many of whom are not even Syrians. The objective is to isolate Iran and crush it without a full fledged war. It is very strange that countries which were responsible for the deaths of 1.1 million Iraqi children thanks to their imposed sanctions would be so overwhelmed by the massacres in syria (ref; Susan Lindauer, ex-CIA operative).
The toppling of the Syrian regime was already planned way back in 2004 by the state department. syria was one of the seven regimes which were to be toppled by the year 2012 as per the Donald Rumsfeld. Year 2012 is running out for the planners. How many more will they massacre to achieve their goal of toppling Assad as per their agenda?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSNyPS0fXpU
Please watch the interview given by ge. Wesley Clarke retired supreme commander of NATo forces)
Andrew Scicluna
Jun 8th 2012, 09:45
shame for china & Russia, there only interest is selling weapons and money income.
Michael Camileri
Jun 8th 2012, 08:23
Mrs Clinton... stop talking, and do something... Yes I forgot, you have no interests in Syria...
B Ellul
Jun 8th 2012, 09:06
Then you should redirect your request to China and Russia who ARE blocking the UN for doing anything!
Mr Edward Muscat
Jun 7th 2012, 22:28
I suspect terrorists are behind these massacres. They want the West to intervene so that they gain control of the country, but as usual the media propaganda decides what is fact or not simply by interviewing a couple of rebels. I don't think Assad, despite being a dictator, is THAT stupid to commit such crimes, gaining more and more fingers pointed at him...
Bill Khan
Jun 8th 2012, 16:09
@Edward Muscat,
The regimes of seven countries, including Libya, and Syria were to be removed by the year 2012.
Listen to an interview given by gen. Wesley Clarke on the subject. The uS. Britsih , israelis, saudis and the qataris are desperate to topple Assad. toppling Assad would isolate Iran and perhaps there would be no need to indulge in a full fledged war against it given the public opinion across the world. Massacres carried out by the agencies of these countries (could be the work of the local Mossad) , is geared to create a public opinion against the assad regime i.e give the dog a bad name and kill it. As the end of 2012 is nearing and Assad still there unforunately more and more massacres will be carried out by the agencies of the above mentioned countries. Belwo is a link to the General wesley Clarke's interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSNyPS0fXpU
Alexander Genuis
Jun 7th 2012, 21:13
L-Amerikani is-Syria ma jmorrux??????????Ghala????Dawn mhux massakri wkoll?Dan mhux ksur tal-liberta u drittijiet?Dan mhux dittatur wkoll???
I Bugeja
Jun 8th 2012, 01:02
actually it is worse than gaddafi
Alex Buds
Jun 8th 2012, 04:40
Ghaliex bilfors skond int l-Amerikani iridu jkunu l-pulizija tad-dinja???
Jekk ma thallasx taxxi l-Amerika, titkellimx please.
Peter Agius
Jun 8th 2012, 04:43
Kull fejn marru l-Amerikani dejjem marru b'mandat car tal-Gnus Maqghuda. Fis -Sirja m'hemmx dan il-mandat ghax shabek ir-Russi u ic-Cinizi qeghdin jimblukkaw ir-rizoluzzjonijiet tal-Kunsill tas-Sigurta'. Issa ghidtlek ghala Sur Genuis.
marthese schembri
Jun 7th 2012, 20:27
I wonder what the Russians mainly and the Chinese think when they llok at these dead children, if it weren't for the hard headed Russians and the ofcourse the Chinese, things would be much different in Syria and the killings of innocent people would stop, Personally I DO NOPT LIKE THE RUSSINAS and we have plenty of them worming themselves into Malta, shame on the immigration minister, what is he afraid of ? the blooming Russians and the chinese. Shame on them all.
T Attard
Jun 7th 2012, 19:56
Imagine the reaction in the Arab street if it was the US that protected the Syrian regime . . . . they'd block the sun from burning American flags . . . but no similar outrage if it's the Russians/Chinese of course, two weights and no measures
Alex Buds
Jun 8th 2012, 04:41
Exactly so. Why no outrage at them? One way traffic...
Joe Buttigieg
Jun 7th 2012, 19:10
what a shame seeing these innocent kids, barely started their life, dead
m. borg (slm)
Jun 7th 2012, 17:28
Of copurse this is not oil rich Libya
I Bugeja
Jun 8th 2012, 01:13
What do you think is their main export? filigree? Its petroleum of course.
A. Mifsud
Jun 7th 2012, 17:04
Scenes of utmost obscenity. A shame on humanity for allowing such an atrocity against innocent individuals. This a genocide and must be stopped, lets not allow history to repeat itself.
Mario Galea
Jun 7th 2012, 17:58
Shame on Russia and China for supporting Assad. Yes we could do something. Yes hurt them were it hurts most. Stop buying goods made in China. That will make them wake up. No need of any military intervention. But if we all unite with the specific goal to help these poor innocent kids we can succeed.
Roderic Sultana
Jun 7th 2012, 18:48
Well said Mr Galea. Seems Russia and China are still dreaming of dictating the world. About time NATO steps in!
Mario Galea
Jun 7th 2012, 20:34
@Rodrick Sultana
We don'nt need bombs and troops (& more deaths). No you & I and all those who are horrified by these disgraceful, dispicable event. will step in for the defence of these kids. DO NOT BUY ANY PRODUCTS MADE IN CHINA!!
M camilleri
Jun 7th 2012, 16:58
Wiehed irid joqod atent hafna qabel ma jasal ghal xi konkluzjoni imma in nato u usa ghalija ma ghandomx jintervjenu bil militar ax jaf igib iktar mibeda dan il poplu maqsum parti mal Gvern u parti le .
Malu Rosso
Jun 8th 2012, 07:24
Sur Camilleri mhux veru li poplu Sirjan huwa maqsum. Il maggoranza ta nies f dan il pajjiz iridu il liberta. Il Gvern Sirjan huwa dak tal familja Assad li huwa gejjin minn grupp fil minoranza li jissejhu Allawijin li familja Assad taghmel parti minnhom. Fis Sirja lanqas biss tista tiftah halek u tgerger fuq xi haga ghax wara ftit jigu mqatula. Dan il pajjiz is sirjani ilhom snien twal jexu hajja ta terru u dan jien rajtu b ghajneja.
Mario Galea
Jun 7th 2012, 15:59
Tal misthija. Hadd ma jista jzommu lil dan. Ser nibqghu cassi ma naghmlu xejn!???
Anthony Formosa
Jun 7th 2012, 17:04
Sur Galea, kieku kienu ghasafar, diga hawn xi 100 kumment. Kullhadd jibqa cass ghax m'hemmx interessi, hlief ghal min qed jinnegozja l-armi. Din hi d-dinja ta'llum, poter u flus u paci qatt.
Steve Zammit
Jun 7th 2012, 19:01
X'int vojt Anthony...x'ghandhom x'jaqsmu l-ghasafar?
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