Operation Ostrava: Month 15, Week 3, Day 7.

The closed session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) convened to discuss the al-Houla massacre in Syria broke up at around the time I made the edit to my post yesterday (27/5/12). Although the exact testimony the head of the United Nations Supervision Mission In Syria (UNSMIS) gave to that closed session has still not been made public. According to consistent reports though the death toll was revised upwards to 108 people made up of 49 children, 34 women and 25 men. Of that the majority of the men were killed by so-called indirect fire (shrapnel/blast injuries from artillery/mortar fire) while the majority of the women and children were killed at close range by gunshot or stabbing/slashing wounds.

The figure of 116 dead and 300 injured that the BBC have been using has not been corroborated by any other source. It appears to be a figure that the Saudi Irregular Army (SIA) simply made up for propaganda purposes and the BBC have repeated without question.

The UNSC meeting also heard testimony from the Syrian government which obviously needs to be treated with some scepticism. They stated that Syrian forces were occupying defensive positions (vehicle checkpoints etc) on the outskirts of al-Houla when they came under attack from SIA fighters armed with vehicle-borne heavy machine guns, assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades (RPG'S). The SIA do not dispute this but claim that the attackers were actually unarmed, peaceful protesters. Having come under attack Syrian forces then returned fire in self-defence and stopped when the fighters/protesters stopped attacking their positions and instead headed into the village. It was at this point that the massacre took place.

Having considered the submissions from the head of UNSMIS and the Syrian government along with other testimony the UNSC produced a non-binding press statement that can be read here; http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/sc10658.doc.htm

This statement is actually a lot more balanced and impartial then we've come to expect from UNSC statements on Syria. For example it acknowledges that the use of indiscriminate, heavy weapons by Syrian forces is separate from the massacre. However it is more focused on blaming the Syrian government for the use of indiscriminate, heavy weapons then apportion blame for the massacre which is clearly the greater crime. Also if you are inexperienced in reading this sort of UN document the wording might cause you to wrongly infer that the UNSC holds the Syrian government responsible for the massacre which it most certainly does not. The statement ends by re-affirming the UNSC's commitment to the Joint Special Envoy, Kofi Annan and his six point plan. This was a sentiment echoed at a meeting today (28/5/12) between the Russian and UK Foreign Ministers in Moscow which Britain had arranged prior to events in al-Houla.

This is commitment to the Annan plan is a massive problem for anyone who is trying to protect Syrian civilians or bring about political change in the country. The Joint Special Envoy and his six point plan are funded entirely by Britain and the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) part of the Arab League. It's entire purpose is to overthrown the Syrian government and failing that push the country into civil war. Therefore it is the problem rather then the solution and should be dropped immediately. However in order to achieve this there needs to be strong leadership by the permanent members of the UNSC and unfortunately the US President is still cowering in fear at the feet of the Saudi King.


Edited at around 22:05 on 28/5/12 to add:

Today a large fire at a shopping centre in the Qatari capital Doha has killed 19 people - predominately children who were in the centre's nursery. This seems to be both an attempt by the Qataris to distance themselves from the al-Houla massacre and a response to the news that a British Court has today refused bail to Abu Qatada who will face an extradition hearing in October 2012 with a verdict expected November 2012. The inference being that people who own the Whitgift shopping centre in Croydon could soon be finding themselves in a lot of trouble.