Sunday, May 27, 2012

#Syria: The #Telegraph - The British Governments Mouthpiece.

Friday's assault on Houla, an area northwest of the central city of Homs, was one of the bloodiest single events in Syria's 15-month-old uprising. The UN says 32 children under the age of 10 were among the dead. The international body and others have issued statements appearing to hold the Syrian regime responsible, but all stopped well short of suggesting intervention.
Jihad Makdissi, a foreign ministry spokesman, told a Damascus news conference that Syria is being subjected to a "tsunami of lies" on Houla.
"We categorically deny the responsibility of government forces for the massacre," Makdissi said.
The Houla attacks sparked outrage from American and other international leaders, and renewed concerns about the relevance of a month-old international peace plan that has not stopped almost daily violence.
UN observers, among more than 250 who were dispatched in recent weeks to try to salvage the ceasefire plan, found spent artillery and tank shells at the site Saturday – a finding which could point toward the government's heavily-armed mechanised units.

"Those who use violence for their own agenda will create more instability, more unpredictability and may lead the country to civil war," the observers' chief, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, warned in a statement.

Giving the regime's version of the events, Makdissi said "hundreds of heavily-armed gunmen carrying machine guns, mortars and anti-tank missiles" launched the attack simultaneously from several locations, starting about 2pm and continuing for nine hours. He said five army positions in the area came under attack at the same time, leaving three soldiers dead and 16 wounded.

"There were no Syrian tanks or artillery in the vicinity" of Houla, Makdissi said. He said that gunmen used anti-tank missiles and "Syrian troops retaliated in defence of their positions."

"Children, women and other innocent people were killed in their homes, and this is not what the Syrian army does," Makdissi said. "The method of killing was brutal."

Makdissi said a committee was set up to investigate the incident, and results should be out within three days.

He added that international envoy Kofi Annan will fly to Syria on Monday.

A senior Arab League official said Syria has denied permission for Annan's deputy to travel to Damascus.

Syria made clear that the decision against former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa is not personal, but rather because it did not want to deal with the Arab League, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Annan is the joint envoy of the UN and Arab League.

Syria, where nearly 10,000 have been killed since a popular uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began last year, says the League has become a tool of the West.

The group suspended Syria's membership and approved sanctions against it late last year.

Kuwait, which currently heads the 22-member Cairo-based Arab League, announced it is calling for an Arab ministerial meeting that aims to "take steps to put an end to the oppressive practices against the Syrian people."

An unnamed foreign ministry official was quoted by Kuwait's official news agency, KUNA, as condemning the attack in Houla and blaming regime forces for the "ugly crime." The official said Kuwait is making contacts so that the international community can "assume its responsibilities to stop the shedding of Syrian brothers' blood."

Late on Saturday, Foreign Minister Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates condemned the killings in Houla and also called for an urgent meeting of the Arab League.

The UN denounced the attacks in a statement that appeared to hold President Bashar Assad's regime responsible, and the White House called the violence acts of "unspeakable and inhuman brutality."

The UN put the death toll weeks ago at more than 9,000. Hundreds have been killed since.
Also Sunday, government troops shelled residential areas in central Syria.

The shelling hit neighbourhoods in the central city of Hama and the rebel-held town of Rastan north of Homs, the Local Coordination Committees and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The two groups also reported clashes between troops and rebels in Hama, in the Damascus suburb of Harasta and in the capital's central Midan district. They said a bomb struck a security vehicle in the capital's upscale district of Mazzeh, near a military airport, according to the LCC.

The Observatory said the vehicle bombing caused casualties but did not have further details.

Damascus is tightly controlled by regime forces but has been hit by a wave of bomb blasts over recent months that killed scores of people.

Most of the blasts have targeted Syrian security agencies.

Source: AFP

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9293328/Syrian-government-denies-troops-were-behind-Houla-massacre.html