Houla massacre

Houla massacre
Part of the Syrian uprising (2011-present)
File:Houla Massacre Victims Burial.jpg Mass burial of Houla Massacre victims.
Location	Houla, Homs, Syria
Date	May 25, 2012
Deaths	90+ (U.N. observers) 32 were children.
Perpetrators	Syrian military and Shabiha militias (alleged by opposition groups and the United Nations); al-Qaeda-affiliated groups (alleged by SANA)

The Houla massacre was an attack that took place on May 25, 2012 in opposition-controlled two villages in the Houla Region, a cluster of villages north of Homs. The official news agency of the Syrian government alleges that Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups were responsible for the killings, while opposition groups allege that the Syrian military or government-linked millias were the perpetrators. While state media reported that 17 had been killed, United Nations observers confirmed opposition group claims that at least 90 civilians were killed, including 32 children.

Background

According to the opposition fighting against the Syrian governement, the FSA had gained control of the town of Houla. This made it impossible for the Syrian Army to break in, forcing them to resort to heavy shelling.

Events

On May 25, video emerged on the internet by activists showed the bloodstained bodies of many children huddled on a floor in the dark. Some of the children had their skulls split open. The video also featured a man's voice screaming, "These are all children! Watch, you dogs, you Arabs, you animals - look at these children, watch, just watch!" Another video showed what was said to be a mass burial of the victims.

Activists said several whole families were slaughtered by security forces on the edge of town. Some died in heavy shelling, while others who were caught were summarily executed. Scores were wounded in the violence.

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the massacre was perpetrated by the Syrian army, which attempted to break in to Houla after the town saw many anti-government protests. Political activists said that Syrian government forces and loyalists fired heavy weapons. According to the Syrian National Council, over 110 civilians were killed by the army, of which half were children. Some of the victims had been hit with artilley and entire families were reportedly massacred.

The Local Coordination Committees, a network of opposition activists inside Syria, stated that the attack by the military was preceded by mortar shelling of the town, which in itself left entire families dead. The group gave the figure of 88 dead in the attack. Other activists blamed Assad loyalists of the surrounding towns for the violence.

The state-owned Syrian news agency SANA referenced an unnamed source in the province that said al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists committed massacres against families in two villages as well as committing large-scale acts of sabotage. In the first village, al-Shumariyeh, the report gave the names of the fathers of both families, the first family consisting also of his wife and six sons, the other also of one son. The same source said that the terrorists killed a family in the village of Taldo consisting of a man and his two brothers, the wife and three children. The terrorists then proceeded to burn houses and crops, allegedly in order to blame the army for having bombed the town. In addition, sabotage was conducted against the local National Hospital and a headquarters of law enforcement forces was attacked.

However locals from village of Houla confessed to BBC journalists which were accompanying UN observer team that massacre was committed by "mercenaries of the regime".

Aftermath

U.N. observers visited the site on the following day, viewing the bodies of the dead in a morgue. They confirmed that at least 90 civilians were killed, including at least 32 children. Robert Mood, the U.N. mission head, described the killings as "indiscriminate and unforgivable" and said that UN observers could confirm "the use of small arms, machine gun[s], artillery and tanks". On the same day, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Syrian government's "unacceptable levels of violence and abuses", including use of heavy weapons on civilian populations, before the U.N. Security Council.

Several towns held rallies to protest the killings, including a Damascus neighborhood where protesters carried signs reading "Banish the UN tourists" and "The Syrian regime kills us under supervision of the UN observers".

The Free Syrian Army stated that it could no longer honor the ceasefire if the safety of civilians was not guaranteed.

Reactions

• Arab League: Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby described the events as a "horrific crime", calling on the Syrian government to "stop the escalation of killing and violence by armed gangs and government military forces".

• United Nations: UN leader Ban Ki-moon and UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan have condemned a massacre of more than 90 civilians in Syria as an "appalling and brutal" breach of international law. Ban and Annan "condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children.

"This appalling and brutal crime, involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force, is a flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres and violence in all its forms," said the statement issued on behalf of the UN secretary-general and the Syria envoy.

"Those responsible for perpetrating this crime must be held to account," the statement said.

• France: France condemned the "massacre in Houla" and called for greater international action. "I am making immediate arrangements for a Friends of Syria group meeting in Paris," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement.

• Syrian National Council: The SNC called on the U.N. Security Council to examine the massacre that had taken place in Houla.

• Local Coordination Committees: "We in the Local Coordination Committees are pained by the international community's apparent blindness to the bloodshed, and believe the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) bears the responsibility for its inability to protect Syrian civilians."

• U.K.: British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the massacre an "appalling crime" and stated that the British government would seek a "strong response". He blamed the Syrian government and called an emergency meeting at the UN security council.