http://www.newsday.com/...
The U.N. report indicated that most of the dead were killed execution-style, with fewer than 20 people cut down by regime shelling. The U.N. cited survivors and witnesses blaming the house-to-house killings on pro-government thugs known as shabiha, who often operate as hired muscle for the regime.
"What is very clear is this was an absolutely abominable event that took place in Houla, and at least a substantial part of it was summary executions of civilians, women and children," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. High commissioner for Human Rights. "At this point, it looks like entire families were shot in their houses."
Houla activists reached by Skype said government troops shelled the area after anti-government protests on Friday and clashed with local rebels. Later, shabiha from nearby villages swept through the area, stabbing residents and shooting them at close range.
Videos posted online by anti-regime activists show explosions in Houla, dismembered bodies lying in the streets, then row upon row of the dead laid out before being buried in a mass grave. Some of the videos showed dozens of dead children, some with gaping wounds.
It is now increasingly clear that the operational relationship between the
Shabiha (a mafia-like militia loyal to the Baathist regime) and the Syrian army is similar to that of the Janjaweed militias and Sudanese army during the Darfur genocide. The military employs heavy bombardment to suppress, disperse, destroy a town's defenses...paving the way for the militia to attack civilians.
As a result of the massacre, many nations including the US, UK, Canada, France, Australia, Belgium, Spain, Bulgaria and others have today expelled Syrian diplomats.
Keeping this diary short and to the point. I leave with this video of the victims Below the fold.
WARNING: The images are horrifically graphic, concerning the mutilated, murdered bodies of young children.
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