The bodies of 47 women and children, some of them with their throats slit, have been found in the restive Syrian city of Homs, the opposition said on Monday, blaming the killings on the regime. Syrian state media acknowledged that residents of the central city had been murdered but attributed the deaths to “armed terrorist gangs”.
It said these gangs had kidnapped the victims, killed them and then made video footage of the bodies in an attempt to discredit Syrian forces.
Hadi Abdallah, a Syrian activist in Homs, told AFP the bodies of 26 children and 21 women, some with their throats slit and others bearing stab wounds, were found after a “massacre” in the Karm el-Zaytoun and Al-Adawiyeh neighbourhoods of the besieged central city.
“Some of the children had been hit with blunt objects on their heads, one little girl was mutilated and some women were raped before being killed,” he said. Activists posted videos online that showed graphic images of charred bodies and children with mutilated and bloodied faces. Syria’s state television also aired gruesome footage showing homes with white walls splattered with blood, bodies of women and children piled on top of each other and several men, with bullet wounds to the head, lying facing down in a disused building, their hands tied behind their backs.
“More massacres could take place if the international community fails to act,” Abdallah said. “We urge a military intervention, strikes against the regime and arming the rebel Free Syrian Army.
“Enough with words. The United States and others for months have been calling on the (regime) to stop the violence, but it continues to kill people.”
The main opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the “massacre”, which it said took place on Sunday.
“The Syrian National Council is making the necessary contacts with all organisations and countries that are friends with the Syrian people for the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting,” the SNC said in a statement.
And in a clear reference to Russia and China, the SNC said that allies of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad shared responsibilty for the “crimes” committed by his regime. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said news of the killings in Homs had prompted hundreds of families to flee the city for fear of a new massacre.
“Hundreds of families fled Homs overnight, notably from the Karm el-Zaytoun neighbourhood, for fear of new massacres by regime forces,” he told AFP.
