|
Among them were 40 women and children; most of them came from thesame family. These are poor people, farmers, who were completely outside ofthe conflict, LLC member Jaber Zayen said from Sweden . The regime is clearly trying to pit civilians against civiliansin an attempt to set off a sectarian war. Surrounded As in Houla, the opposition says the army first surroundedal-Qubeir, and then sent in the so-called shabiha , or ghosts, pro-government militias composed of civilians from thesurrounding Alawite villages. The Alawite, an off-shoot of ShiaIslam, are a minority in Syria, but they have much of the power.The uprising stems mainly from within the Sunni majority. Opposition sources claim that some of the bodies were tied to thebacks of cars and dragged through neighboring Alawite villages. In Houla, the UN observers were able to establish that the massacrehad indeed occurred, though not who was to blame for the massacre. The government has blamed "terrorists" in both cases. Inthe case of Al-Qubeir, the official SANA press agency said ninewomen and children had been killed. But unlike Houla, where theobservers were able to get access fairly quickly, there has been noindependent verification in Al-Qubeir. On Thursday afternoon, the commander of the UN observers mission, Gen. Robert Mood , put out an unusually strongly-worded statement, complaining thathis observers were "being stopped at Syrian Army checkpoints and in some cases turned back" and that "weare receiving information from residents of the area that thesafety of our observers is at risk if we enter village of Mazraatal-Qubeir." Journalists were also hindered in their attempts to reachAl-Qubeir. Only a handful of foreign journalists are currently inSyria, mostly on 7-day visas. The Information Ministry has toldthem that they are not allowed to travel outside Damascus without the UN observers. But the observers are often based in places like Hama and Homs , so connecting with them requires disregarding the direct ordersof the Information Ministry. This is in itself a violation of UNenvoy Kofi Annan s six-point peace plan to which Syria has agreed,one of which is freedom of movement for the media. Journalists who traveled to Hama yesterday were stopped at thefirst checkpoint in the city, and told to return to the capital.The alleged massacre at Al-Qubeir came on the same day that the UN Security Council was meeting behind closed doors to discuss the Syria situation. The Security Council is divided between its Western members, who favor further sanctions againstSyria, and Russia and China , who have vetoed two resolutions aiming to increase pressure onthe regime of President Bashar al-Assad . Mr. Annan asked the council members to warn the Syrian regime of clear consequences if M. Assad does not comply with hissix-point plan, AFP reported. The longer we wait, the darker thefuture looks for Syria, Annan told them. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Led Track Lighting Fixtures , T5 Tube Lights for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits T8 Led Light Tube.
Related Articles -
China Led Track Lighting Fixtures, T5 Tube Lights,
|
