reputed to be from Houla but has not been authenticated.
While reading the Washington Post today I came across a report which stated that the United States and 10 other countries had expelled Syrian diplomats on Tuesday for the massacre last week of more than 100 villagers in central Syria. But even in the light of all the violence now taking place in Syria, there still is no call for more aggressive action to end the useless killing of the opposition by government forces.
All that has been happening is that everybody still wants to rely on diplomatic, political and economic pressure against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And this while there are people dying out there.
The massacre in the village of Houla, just outside Homs, Syria, where it is reported that most of the 108 people killed were executed by government sponsored thugs, is once again showing that the UN and all its members are just a bunch of toothless bulldogs. Here we have reports of victims being summarily executed. Entire families were wiped while hiding in their houses. It is reported that nearly 50% of those executed were younger than 10 years old.
Only 20 people in the entire village had been killed by the government forces blasting the village with artillery fire and tanks.
It is now stated that the regime-sponsored thugs who went into the village and killed the children at point-blank range along with their parents, are using the same tactics as what was used by the Iranians to put down the political uprising in 2009. It is suggested that Assad was acting on Iran’s advice and assistance.
What is happening in Syria has now turned into more of a sectarian cleansing than anything else. The UN representative who is supposed to be doing some peacekeeping in Syria agrees that the government was responsible for the shelling and puts the blame for the massacre on members of the shabiha. This is the pro-government militias which belongs Assad’s Alawite sect. The village which was attacked is mainly of the Sunni sect.
A problem the UN has is that both Russia and China will veto any military action being taken against Syria. So no matter in what terms the West denunciates what happened in Syria, nothing more seems to be on the cards to help the people of Syria.
It has been reported that Moscow has come out in condemnation of the massacre and agrees that tanks and artillery were used but want an investigation into what happened so that it doesn’t happen again. Duh?
This incident once again shows that within all the internal deliberations taking place the international community is so divided that they suffer from total paralysis as to what action is needed. And the Unites States won’t do anything while they are getting ready for presidential elections. Presidential candidate, Romney has been quoted as saying that the administration should “increase pressure on Russia” to stop arming Syria and blocking stronger U.N. action and should start arming the Syrian opposition. But here is the kicker, a senior European diplomat is saying that they don’t want any tough bilateral decisions taken against Russia as they need Russia for ‘other things’ including nuclear negotiations with both North Korea and Iran.
It is good to see that some regional powers, led by Saudi Arabia, are funding arms shipments to the rebels and have called for outside military intervention. Saudi Arabia obviously would like to see Assad deposed which in turn would damage to their arch enemy, Iran.
But on the other hand we have Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon who are scared of the possible regional chaos and sectarian strife that could follow a Syrian collapse. Is it more a case of knowing that the same could happen in their countries?
My blog is based on the report by Sly reporting from Beirut and staff writer Colum Lynch in New York. Both from the Washington Post.
Also go check out the following:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/syria_will_the_world_look_away_db/?ccjsnbb
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