Activists say over 90 killed in Syria’s Houla massacre

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Activists on Saturday raised the number of those killed in an alleged massacre by Syrian regime forces in a region in the center of the country to more than 90.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 90 people had been killed in the Houla area in the 24 hours since midday Friday.

A local activist giving his name as Abu Yazan reached via Skype said 12 people died in shelling and 106 were killed when pro-regime thugs known as shabiha stormed the area.

That death toll is one of the highest for any single event since the popular uprising against Bashar Assad began in March 2011. The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians.

The new violence in Houla is also a further blow to a U.N. peace plan for Syria that was supposed to start with a cease-fire between government troops and rebels on April 12 but has never really taken hold.

More than 250 U.N. observers are now deployed in Syria to oversee the truce, and a spokesman for the team said Saturday that observers were heading to Houla.

A local activist reached via Skype said regime forces started shelling the village of Houla, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the city of Homs in west-central Syria following an anti-regime demonstration following Muslim prayers on Friday. Twelve people were killed in the shelling, said the activist, who gave his name as Abu Yazan.

Later, pro-regime thugs known as shabiha stormed the village of Taldaw, just south of Houla, raiding homes and shooting at civilians.

“They killed entire families, from parents on down to children, but they focused on the children,” he said.

Amateur videos posted online showed many children among the dozens of dead laid out in different rooms and covered with sheets and blankets. One video showed 14 dead children lined up on a floor, shoulder to shoulder.

Abu Yazan said most residents were fleeing the area Saturday, fearing further killings.

Activist claims and videos could not be independently verified. The Syrian government bars most media from operating inside the country.

News of the killings elicited harsh condemnations from anti-regime groups, many of which have expressed frustration with international reluctance to intervene in Syria’s conflict.

Bassma Kodmani of the exile opposition Syrian National Council called on the U.N. Security Council “to examine the situation in Houla and to determine the responsibility of the United Nations in the face of such mass killings, expulsions and forced migration from entire neighborhoods.”

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights released an unusually harsh statement, saying Arab nations and the international community were “partners” in the killing “because of their silence about the massacres that the Syrian regime has committed.”

The Associated Press

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16 responses to “Activists say over 90 killed in Syria’s Houla massacre”

  1. Amine123 Avatar
    Amine123

    When anyone is going to do something about this criminal?

  2. Amine123 Avatar
    Amine123

    When anyone is going to do something about this criminal?

  3. A portrait of the works of the  wild  beast and his followers.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Shabiha working on eliminating any future generations … still have a long way to go.
      Would Nasrallah call this an ‘unethical sin’ ?

  4. A portrait of the works of the  wild  beast and his followers.

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      Shabiha working on eliminating any future generations … still have a long way to go.

  5. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Don’t bury anything until the ‘observers’ have observed …. but maybe there are not enough left to dig holes anyway … It may resemble the bone-piles of Pol Pot’s killing fields soon enough.

  6. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    Don’t bury anything until the ‘observers’ have observed …. but maybe there are not enough left dig holes anyway … It may resemble the bone-piles of Pol Pot’s killing fields soon enough.

  7. Patience2 Avatar
    Patience2

    I’m surprised that now, even the Russians haven’t sent in their Spetsnaz to clean out Assad and his dog-shXt family as a gesture of mercy to the Syrian people!  The Russians ARE merciful, aren’t they??

  8. Patience2 Avatar
    Patience2

    I’m surprised that now, even the Russians haven’t sent in their Spetsnaz to clean out Assad and his dog-shXt family as a gesture of mercy to the Syrian people!  The Russians ARE merciful, aren’t they??

  9. Fauzia45 Avatar
    Fauzia45

    This so called ¨peace plan ¨is a failure!!!All they can do is condemn these massacres !!! The UN must send thousand of observers at least or take other measures !!!How long is this going to continue!!!!

  10. Fauzia45 Avatar
    Fauzia45

    This so called ¨peace plan ¨is a failure!!!All they can do is condemn these massacres !!! The UN must send thousand of observers at least or take other measures !!!How long is this going to continue!!!!

  11. Prophettttt Avatar
    Prophettttt

    Italian photographer, Marco Di Lauro, has exposed the BBC which illegally used one of his photographs taken in Iraq as anti-Syrian Propaganda on their website’s front page.
    Photographs, which He took in Al Musayyib,south of Baghdad  on March 27,3003 are being used by BBC and other media outlets  as an anti-syrian propaganda ,to mislead people on the horrible houla massacre which took place in Syria this week. 

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      One reason it’s important for photographers to place watermarks and keep their rights on the sale of the pics.
      The ‘digital age’ took the film originals away.

  12. Prophettttt Avatar
    Prophettttt

    Italian photographer, Marco Di Lauro, has exposed the BBC which illegally used one of his photographs taken in Iraq as anti-Syrian Propaganda on their website’s front page.
    Photographs, which He took in Al Musayyib,south of Baghdad  on March 27,3003 are being used by BBC and other media outlets  as an anti-syrian propaganda ,to mislead people on the horrible houla massacre which took place in Syria this week. 

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar
      5thDrawer

      One reason it’s important for photographers to place watermarks and keep their rights on the sale of the pics.
      The ‘digital age’ took the film originals away.

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