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BEIRUT – Activists say troops have shelled several neighborhoods in acentral Syrian city, killing at least 24. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the LocalCoordination Committees say the bombardment of Hama lasted untilthe early hours of Monday. The LCC said 24 were killed while the Observatory put the deathtoll at 25, including eight children and five women. Amateur videos showed a makeshift hospital were several people layon the floor either dead or wounded. The city witnessed clashes Sunday between troops and rebels. In 1982, President Bashar Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez,ordered the military to quell a rebellion by the Muslim Brotherhoodmovement in Hama in an assault that killed between 10,000 and25,000 people. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for furtherinformation. AP's earlier story is below. BEIRUT (AP) — Syria on Sunday strongly denied allegationsthat its forces killed scores of people — including women andchildren — in one of the deadliest days of the country'suprising, but the U.N. Security Council after an emergency sessioncondemned government forces for shelling residential areas. The killing of more than 100 people in the west-central area ofHoula on Friday brought widespread international criticism of theregime of President Bashar Assad, although differences emerged fromworld powers over whether his forces were exclusively to blame. The Security Council issued a press statement Sunday that"condemned in the strongest possible terms" the killings in Houla.It blamed Syrian forces for artillery and tank shelling ofresidential areas. It also condemned the killings of civilians "byshooting at close range and by severe physical abuse," but avoidedsaying who was responsible for these attacks. The council's statement said the "outrageous use of force" againstcivilians violated international law and Syrian governmentcommitments under previous U.N. resolutions to stop all violence,including the use of heavy weapons in populated areas. It said"those responsible for acts of violence must be held accountable,"and asked the U.N. observer mission in Syria and Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon to investigate the attacks and report back to thecouncil. Britain and France had proposed issuing a press statementcondemning the attack on civilians and pointing the finger at theSyrian government for Friday's massacre. But Russia called for anemergency council meeting saying it first wanted a briefing by Gen.Robert Mood, the head of the unarmed U.N. observer mission. The massacre in Houla on Friday cast fresh doubts on the ability ofan international peace plan put forward by U.N.-Arab League envoyKofi Annan to end Syria's 14-month-old crisis. The brutality of the killings became clear in amateur videos postedonline that showed scores of bodies, many of them young children,in neat rows and covered with blood and deep wounds. A later videoshowed the bodies, wrapped in white sheets, being placed in asprawling mass grave. Mood told the Security Council that U.N. observers at the scene nowestimate 108 people were killed in Houla, U.N. peacekeeping chiefHerve Ladsous told reporters outside the council chamber. The U.N.counted 49 children and 34 women among the dead. Activists from the Houla area said the army pounded the villageswith artillery and clashed with local rebels after protests Friday.Some activists said pro-regime thugs later stormed the area, doingthe bulk of the killing by gunning down men in the streets andstabbing women and children in their homes. The Syrian government rejected that narrative Sunday, painting avastly different picture. Speaking to reporters in Damascus, Foreign Ministry spokesman JihadMakdissi said Syrian security forces were in their local basesFriday when they were attacked by "hundreds of heavily armedgunmen" firing mortars, heavy machine guns and anti-tank missiles,staring a nine-hour battle that killed three soldiers and wounded16. The soldiers fought back, but didn't leave their bases, he said. "No Syrian tank or artillery entered this place where the massacreswere committed," he said. "The security forces did not leave theirplaces because they were in a state of self-defense." He blamed the gunmen for what he called a "terrorist massacre" inHoula and accused the media, Western officials and others ofspinning a "tsunami of lies" to justify foreign intervention inSyria. Makdissi did not provide videos or other evidence to support hisversion of events, nor did he give a death toll. He said thegovernment had formed a committee to investigate and share itsfindings with Annan, who is due to visit Damascus in the comingdays. Throughout the uprising, the government has deployed snipers,troops and thugs to quash protests and shelled opposition areas. A video released by the U.N. team in Syria on Sunday showedobservers in Houla the day after the attack, meeting with localrebels and watching residents collect more bodies for burial. Italso showed two destroyed armored personnel carriers —suggesting that local rebels put up more of a fight than theactivists acknowledged. In a letter to the Security Council, Ban said villages in the Houlaarea have been outside government control but surrounded by a heavySyrian military presence. When U.N. observers visited the area on Saturday, Ban said they saw85 corpses in a mosque in Taldou and "observed shotgun wounds andwounds consistent with artillery fire." He said "the patrol alsosaw artillery and tank shells, as well as fresh tank tracks" andobserved that "many buildings had been destroyed by heavy weapons." At U.N. headquarters, Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador AlexanderPankin told reporters as he headed into the closed-door SecurityCouncil meeting that "there is substantial ground to believe thatthe majority of those who were killed were either slashed, cut byknives, or executed at point-blank distance." "We have to establish whether it was Syrian authorities ... beforewe agree on something," he said. A press statement is weaker than a presidential statement, whichbecomes part of the council record, or a legally binding U.N.resolution, but it must be approved by all 15 members and thereforereflects strong Security Council backing. Annan's peace plan for Syria, sponsored by the U.N. and the ArabLeague, is one of the few points of agreement among world powersabout Syria's crisis, which began in March 2011 with protestscalling for political change. As the government violently crackeddown on the uprising, many in the opposition took up arms to defendthemselves and attack government troops. The U.N. put the death toll weeks ago at more than 9,000. Hundredsmore have been killed since then. Daily violence has marred the plan since a cease-fire was supposedto begin April 12. The Houla attack made Friday the deadliest daysince the truce was announced, and has cast a shadow over Annan'svisit. In another defiant move, Syria on Sunday denied permission forAnnan's deputy to travel to Damascus with his boss, a senior ArabLeague official said. The rejection of former Palestinian ForeignMinister Nasser al-Kidwa was intended as a slap to the Arab League,which suspended Syria's membership and approved sanctions againstit last year. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of thesensitivity of the issue. Annan's spokesman declined to comment. The Houla attacks caused outrage among American and internationalofficials that Makdissi's comments Sunday failed to assuage. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he would summonSyria's most senior diplomat in the U.K. on Monday so the ForeignOffice could "make clear our condemnation of the Syrian regime'sactions." Kuwait, which currently heads the 22-member Arab League, called foran Arab ministerial meeting to "take steps to put an end to theoppressive practices against the Syrian people." Switzerland's Foreign Ministry urged that an international inquirybe convened, saying the killings "could constitute a war crime." In Paris, the head of the exile Syrian National Council alsocondemned the killings. "The kids of Houla are the kids of all of Syria," Burhan Ghaliountold reporters. "Killing the kids of Houla is like killing the kidsof all of Syria." Anti-regime activists scoffed at the government's version ofevents. One Houla activist said via Skype that the area had at most300 fighters, but that none had more than rifles and that theyoften lacked ammunition. "If we had anti-tank missiles, there would be no tanks left in thearea," said Mohammed, declining to give his full name for fear ofretribution. Activists reported shelling, gunfire and arrest raids in oppositionareas throughout the country Sunday as well as clashes betweenregime forces and rebels in a number of areas. The Britain-basedSyrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces killed atleast 14 civilians, while rebels killed nine soldiers. Activist claims could not be independently verified. The Syriangovernment bars most media from operating in the country. Annan's plan calls for eventual talks between all sides on apolitical solution to the crisis. The U.S. hopes Russia can use its influence with Damascus to pressfor a political transition similar to that seen in Yemen. InFebruary, longtime Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh passed powerto his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution. U.S. officials say Russia does not oppose a political transition inSyria in theory, but has not agreed to specific terms. ___ Lederer reported from the United Nations. Associated Press writersAdam Schreck in Dubai and Hamza Hendawi in Cairo contributed tothis report. I am an expert from honkonipl.com, while we provides the quality product, such as CO2 Fractional Laser , RF Beauty Equipment Manufacturer, Long Pulse ND Yag Laser,and more.
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