17 killed in Syria’s Daraa as anger grows over Hama massacre

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Syrian army bombardment of the southern city of Daraa killed 17 civilians, most of them women and children, on Saturday, June 9 a human rights watchdog said, as anger grew over a massacre in a central village, AFP reported.

UN observers who visited the village of Al-Kubeir said they witnessed blood on the walls and "a strong stench of burnt flesh," prompting Western governments to launch a push for tough new sanctions against Damascus.

Nine women and three children were among the dead in the pre-dawn bombardment of a residential neighourhood of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Dozens of people were also wounded in the city, cradle of the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad which erupted in March last year, the Britain-based watchdog said.

Mobile communications in Daraa were cut off on Saturday morning, it added.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that the bombardment might have been in reprisal for increased rebel attacks on government troops in recent days.

"Rebels have been attacking checkpoints in many areas across the country in the evenings," he said.

Diplomats in New York said Britain, France and the United States would quickly draw up a Security Council resolution proposing sanctions against Syria. "We will move fast to press for a resolution," one UN diplomat told AFP.

More than 20 unarmed UN observers were allowed into Al-Kubeir on Friday, a day after they were shot at and prevented from entering the village.

"Inside some of the houses, blood was visible across the walls and floors. Fire was still burning outside houses and there was a strong stench of burnt flesh," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said in New York, delivering a grisly account of the visit.

At least 55 people were killed in Wednesday's assault on Al-Kubeir, according to the Syrian Observatory.

UN officials, unable to confirm that toll, have made it clear they believe government forces and allies were behind the attack on the mainly Sunni Muslim village surrounded by an Alawite population loyal to Assad.