Peace envoy Annan says Syria “flouted” UN resolutions with massacre

July 14, 2012 - 14:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Peace envoy Kofi Annan said Syria had "flouted" Security Council resolutions with mass killings in Treimsa village, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded that the Council act to stop the bloodshed, AFP reported.

Activists said about 150 people were killed in what the Syrian opposition charged was a massacre by regime forces on Thursday but which the government claimed was a clash with rebels.

Ban demanded that the UN Security Council act on the 16-month-old conflict, warning that any failure would be giving "a license for further massacres".

Ban and Annan, the UN-Arab League envoy, expressed outrage at the killings and to make an "urgent call" for increased pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime launched a brutal crackdown on dissent in March 2011.

The massacre in Treimsa has added new urgency to deadlocked Security Council negotiations on a Syria resolution. Russia has rejected western demands for non-military sanctions to be threatened to back Annan's peace efforts.

Washington has called for a ceasefire to let UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) observers into Treimsa in the central province of Hama.

"The use of artillery, tanks and helicopters, which has been confirmed by UNSMIS, is a violation of the Syrian government's obligations and commitment to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres," Annan said in a letter to the 15-nation council obtained by AFP.

"Tragically, we now have another grim reminder that the council's resolutions continue to be flouted."

French President Francois Hollande called on Russia and China not to oppose UN sanctions against Syria following the latest massacre, saying it would "only result in chaos and war in Syria at the expense of (your) own interests."

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, putting the death toll in Treimsa at 200, denounced the killings as "an atrocity" and "a blatant violation" of Annan's six-point peace plan, which has not been observed.