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the_archfiend) wrote2012-06-12 04:29 pm
...to worse (far worse)
"Syria" seems to be on the verge of becoming a new synonym for the word "abattoir":
The smell of burnt flesh hung in the air and body parts lay scattered around the deserted Syrian hamlet of Mazraat al-Qubeir on Friday, U.N. monitors said after visiting the site where 78 people were reported massacred two days ago.
The alleged killing spree on Wednesday underlined how little outside powers, divided and pursuing their own interests in the Middle East, have been able to do to stop increasing carnage in the 15-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
A day after Syrian armed forces and villagers had turned them back, the unarmed U.N. monitors reached the farming settlement of Mazraat al-Qubeir, finding it deserted but bearing signs of deadly violence.
One house was damaged by rocket fire and bullets, U.N. spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh said. Another was burnt, with bodies still inside. "You could smell dead bodies and you could also see body parts in and around the village," Ghosheh told reporters after returning to Damascus.
BBC reporter Paul Danahar, who accompanied the monitors, said it was clear "terrible crime" had taken place.
Granted, there is supposed to be a cease-fire plan in place, but the UN observers who were intended to monitor it are currently having some serious issues of their own to deal with:
UN monitors say they were fired on and forced to turn back as they attempted to reach the town of Haffa in northern Syria, where rebel positions are being bombarded by government forces.
The monitors said stone-throwing crowds stopped them from reaching Haffa and three cars were fired on as they left.
The head of UN peacekeeping says Syria is now in a state of civil war.
Herve Ladsous told reporters at the UN in New York that large parts of Syria were now outside government control.
The monitors turned back at the last checkpoint before Haffa, judging the situation "unsafe", a UN spokeswoman said.