Massacre in Syria’s Houla village in the early hours of 26th of May has reportedly killed 108 civilians, including over 30 children.
Reports say artillery and tank shells were fired in the Syrian village killing hundreds of civilians.
The violence took place in and around the town of Houla, near Homs, after an anti-government protest.
UN Photo/Neeraj Singh
Today, the Security Council voiced condemnation of the recent massacre of men, women and children inHoula.
Reports say the Council was briefed in a closed-door session by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous as well as by video-link by General Robert Mood, head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS).
On Saturday UN observers went to Houla, a village near Homs, and confirmed the killings as well as the wounding of hundreds of civilians.
The Council has condemned the killings “in the strongest possible terms” as well as the killing of civilians by shooting at close range and by severe physical abuse.
The Council also demanded that the Syrian Government immediately cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres immediately.
Yesterday Mr. Ban, Gen. Mood and the Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States for Syria, Kofi Annan, issued statements in which they strongly condemned the killings and urged that those responsible be held to account.
The killings have also sparked outrage from the President of the General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, saying that these “shocking” killings in a populated neighborhood are a flagrant violation of international law and the commitments made by the Syrian Government, and from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
In addition, the United States of America also expressed condemnation in the massacre in the Syrian village of Haoula.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United Nations observers have confirmed that dozens of men, women, and children were killed and hundreds more wounded in a vicious assault that involved a regime artillery and tank barrage on a residential neighborhood.
She stressed that those who perpetrated this atrocity must be identified and held to account.
And the United States will work with the international community to intensify our pressure on Asad and his cronies, whose rule by murder and fear must come to an end, she added.
“We stand in solidarity with the Syrian people and the peaceful marchers in cities across Syria who have taken to the streets to denounce the massacre in Haoula.”– Ms. Clinton
The violence in Syria, which began in March 2011 as a protest movement similar to those witnessed across the Middle East and North Africa, has claimed over 9,000 lives, mostly civilians, and displaced tens of thousands.
