14 July, 2012

Syria: Tremseh killings targeted rebels, UN says

Syria: Tremseh killings targeted rebels, UN says-bbc
An image said to show relatives grieving for the dead in Tremseh
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Guide: Syria Crisis

The attack on the Syrian village of Tremseh mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, the UN mission has said.

A UN spokeswoman issued a statement after experts visited the scene of Thursday's attack, 25km north-west of the city of Hama.

At least 200 villagers were killed in an attack that triggered international condemnation.

Syria's government insists this was a military operation against rebels.

"A wide range of weapons were used, including artillery, mortars and small arms," the UN spokeswoman, Sausan Ghosheh, said in a statement.

"The attack on Tremseh appeared targeted at specific groups and houses, mainly of army defectors and activists. There were pools of blood and blood spatters in rooms of several homes together with bullet cases."'Shocked and appalled'

The government says its armed forces mounted a special operation after tip-offs from local people about large numbers of armed rebels operating from hideouts there.


A statement from the Syrian military says that the hideouts had been destroyed, with a large number of rebel fighters - or "terrorists" as the government calls them - being killed, and dozens captured.

Some of them were paraded on state TV describing their activities, and it showed large quantities of arms and ammunition it said were seized.

The statement said no civilians were killed in the fighting.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in neighbouring Lebanon, says that in contrast to the massacre at Houla two months ago, the opposition has not yet produced videos or a detailed lists of names of civilians killed.

He says that activist and human rights groups have named a handful of civilians they say died in the bombardment of the village, but the few video postings they have produced, showing the bodies of young men, are consistent with the government line that many rebel fighters were killed.


UN observers had earlier confirmed that government forces used tanks, artillery and helicopters during the attack, in violation of a commitment given to UN and Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan.

Mr Annan was among those who reacted angrily to the killings, saying he was "shocked and appalled".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the attack cast "serious doubt" on President Bashar al-Assad's commitment to the peace plan.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested the Syrian army had "deliberately murdered civilians" in Tremseh.

Meanwhile, violence has continued elsewhere across Syria.
Continue reading the main story
Syria's massacres 2012
3 Apr: Military attack on Taftanaz in Idlib. Mass graves said to hold 57 people
25 May: Some 108 killed in Taldou, in Houla region, many of them women and children
6 Jun: At least 79 people, many of them women and children, killed in village in Hama province
Timeline: Syria's massacres

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling and fighting in the central province of Homs killed at least five people on Saturday.

The Observatory reported more government helicopter attacks - this time in southern Deraa province - and said that 118 people were killed across the country on Friday.

Reports of casualties often cannot be independently verified, as Syria severely restricts journalists' freedom of movement.

Some 16,000 people are thought to have been killed since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime began in March 2011.

The UN Security Council is currently debating the future of the UN observer mission in Syria, which is set to come to an end on 20 July.

Western nations want to increase the threat of sanctions in the new Security Council resolution on the future of the mission.

China and Russia remain opposed to any moves to threaten further sanctions.


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