Syria opposition urges emergency UN meeting as violence continues

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syria's main opposition group on Thursday, April 26 called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting as it accused regime forces of killing more than 100 people in the central city of Hama in recent days, AFP reported.

"We are calling for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council so that it can issue a resolution to protect civilians in Syria," the Syrian National Council said in a statement.

"Hama in recent days, and following a visit by UN observers, witnessed a series of crimes... that left more than 100 people dead and hundreds wounded because of heavy shelling.

"The city also witnessed summary executions, raids, arrests and the flight of residents," the exile group added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said at least 12 people were killed in shelling on a working-class neighbourhood of Hama on Wednesday, but some activists on the ground put the death toll at 68, including 16 children.

At least 31 people were killed during shelling of a different neighbourhood on Monday.

According to the Damascus-based Syrian League for Human Rights, nine activists were also "summarily executed" by regime forces on Monday, a day after they met UN observers overseeing a fragile ceasefire that went into effect April 12.

The ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has failed to take hold with unrest and killings reported on a daily basis in various parts of the country.