Background
The Syrian government has a history of committing massacres, such as the Siege of Aleppo (1980), the Tadmor prison massacre, the Hama massacre, and several massacres that occurred during the ongoing Syrian uprising.
Houla was a regular protest hub, even before army defectors formed the Free Syrian Army. The Syrian army had raided and killed protesters in Houla before.[10][11]
According to Al Jazeera's correspondent Hadi al-Abdallah, the Free Syrian Army had gained control of the town of Houla, and it became a hub for opposition militants. The Syrian Army was unable to enter the town, forcing them to shell it from a distance.[6]
Events
On May 25, 2012, video emerged on the internet by activists showed the bloodstained bodies of many children huddled on a floor in the dark.[12] Some of the children had had their skulls split open.[13] Others had been shot or knifed to death, some with their throats cut.[5] The video also featured a man's voice screaming, "These are all children! Watch, you dogs, you Arabs, you animals – look at these children, watch, just watch!"[4] Another video showed what was said to be a mass burial of the victims.[14]
Syrian activists said several families were slaughtered by security forces on the edge of town. Some died in heavy shelling, while others who were caught were summarily executed. Scores were wounded in the violence.[12] Some Houla citizens stated that they had attempted to contact UN monitors during the night of the massacre, but the monitors refused to come.[15]
According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the massacre was perpetrated by the Syrian army, which attempted to break in to Houla after the town saw many anti-government protests. Political activists said that Syrian government forces and loyalists fired heavy weapons. According to the Syrian National Council, over 110 civilians were killed by the army, of which half were children. Some of the victims had been hit with artillery and entire families were reportedly massacred.[6]
The Local Coordination Committees, a network of opposition activists inside Syria, stated that the attack by the military was preceded by mortar shelling of the town, which in itself left entire families dead. The group gave the figure of 88 dead in the attack.[6][16] Other activists blamed Assad loyalists of the surrounding Alawite towns for the violence. Local man, who gave his name as Abu Bilal al-Homsi, accused Alawites in ranks of Shabiha of executions of locals in town of Taldaw, where they bayoneted civilians as a retaliation for earlier Friday demonstration and attack of Free Syrian Army fighters on army checkpoints in vicinity of the towns.[6][17]
The state-owned news agency SANA referenced an unnamed source in the province that said al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists committed massacres against families in two villages as well as committing large-scale acts of sabotage. In the first village, al-Shumariyeh, the report gave the names of the fathers of both families, the first family consisting also of his wife and six sons, the other also of one son. The same source said that the terrorists killed a family in the village of Taldo consisting of a man and his two brothers, the wife and three children. The terrorists then proceeded to burn houses and crops, allegedly in order to blame the army for having bombed the town. In addition, sabotage was conducted against the local National Hospital and a headquarters of law enforcement forces was attacked.[3]
Locals from Houla told the BBC that the massacre was committed by "mercenaries of the regime".[4]
Aftermath
U.N. observers visited the site on the following day, viewing the bodies of the dead in a morgue.[18] They confirmed that at least 90 civilians were killed, including at least 32 children.[4] Robert Mood, the U.N. mission head, described the killings as "indiscriminate and unforgivable" and said that UN observers could confirm "the use of small arms, machine gun[s], artillery and tanks".[4] On the day of the attacks, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the Syrian government's "unacceptable levels of violence and abuses", including use of heavy weapons on civilian populations, before the U.N. Security Council.[6] The U.N. report on the killings strongly implied that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were responsible for the slaughter, demanding “that the Syrian Government immediately cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers.”[19]
Several towns held rallies to protest the killings. In a Damascus neighborhood women were filmed carrying papers that read "Banish the UN tourists" and "The Syrian regime kills us under supervision of the UN observers".[6]
The Free Syrian Army stated that it could no longer honor the ceasefire if the safety of civilians was not guaranteed,[4] and that the peace plan negotiated by Kofi Annan was "dead".[20] Members of the group stated their intent to retaliate against government forces.[20]
The official Syrian news agency SANA wrote that the attacks fit a pattern of the opposition armed groups escalating their crimes before Security Council sessions on Syria, or in this case, coinciding with the announced visit of the UN envoy to Syria Kofi Annan. The news agency cited a March 15 massacre in the Karm Allouz neighborhood in Homs in which 15 Syrians were killed, including a woman and her four children, one day before a Security Council session on Syria.[3]
On May 27, the U.S., France, Britain, and Germany proposed a collective statement at the UN condemning the Syrian government in "blistering" language, accusing it of using tank shells and artillery on a civilian population. However, Russia blocked the statement's adoption.[9] Kuwait called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League to discuss the attacks.[9]
On the same day, the Syrian government renewed shelling of Houla, and set up snipers in the area in an apparent attempt to prevent any more civilians from speaking with observers.[17]
On May 28, Human Rights Watch released a report of interviews with survivors and area activists, in which all stated that the massacre was committed by pro-government gunmen in military fatigues. However, the witnesses were unable to say whether gunmen belonged to armed forces or militia, commonly known as Shabiha. HRW was also given a list of casualties, from which 62 victims were members of Abdel Razzak family.[21]
Syrian Government: Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad said that "[t]here is a huge, misleading, well-planned campaign to distort the facts on the ground and mislead the people."[22] Spokesman for the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Jihad Makdissi, said in a press conference on May 27 “We completely deny responsibility for this terrorist massacre against our people.” He also repeated the claim that the Syrian government was the target of a “tsunami of lies. [...] Women, children and old men were shot dead, [...] This is not the hallmark of the heroic Syrian army.” As had already been claimed the day before by the state-owned news agency SANA, Makdissi also pointed to the "suspicious coincidence" that the attacks occurred in conjunction with the visit to Syria on May 28 by Kofi Annan, making them "a slap to the political process." The foreign ministry spokesman informed that a military judicial committee is investigating the massacre and that its findings would be announced in three days.[9][23] He also emphasized that no tanks or artillery had entered al-Houla town, and that law enforcement units "never left their positions" being pinned down in self-defense. He also said, "The Syrian state is responsible for protecting civilians according to the constitution and Syria preserves its right to defend its citizens."[23]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, described the attack as an “appalling and brutal crime involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force [which] is a flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers and violence in all its forms.” They called on the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas, and they reiterated the call for all sides to cease violence.[9] On May 28, United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the killing of at least 108 people and confirmed that massacre took place amid "series of government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighborhood", what Syrian government denied just hours before.[25]
- Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby described the events as a "horrific crime," calling on the Syrian government to "stop the escalation of killing and violence by armed gangs and government military forces."[4]
- Egypt Foreign Minister Mohammad Kamel Amr condemned the "massacre" in Syria.[26]
- France condemned the "massacre in Houla" and called for greater international action. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced arrangements for a Paris meeting of a "Friends of Syria" group.[6]
- Germany Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that "It is appalling that the Syrian regime does not put an end to the brutal violence against its own people ... Those responsible for this crime must be punished."[27]
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had until the massacre refrained from any comments regarding Syria, expressed "appall at the continuous slaughter of innocent civilians by Assad's forces." He called on the international community to take action in light of "the continuous slaughter of innocent civilians" and added that "Iran and Hezbollah cannot be separated from Assad's massacre, and the world needs to take action against them as well."[28]
- Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Moscow following a meeting with british foreign minister, "The government bears the main responsibility for what is going on" and that "Any government in any country bears responsibility for the security of its citizens".[29]
- British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the massacre an "appalling crime" and stated that the British government would seek a "strong response."[4] He blamed the Syrian government and called an emergency meeting at the UN security council.[30]
- The UAE called for an Arab League meeting regarding the massacre, describing the killing as "a violation to our humanity, and signifies the tragic failure of our collective Arab and international efforts to put an end to the violence against the civilians in Syria."[31]
- U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the US condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the "atrocity" in Houla. She said the US will work with the international community to put pressure on "Assad and his cronies," stating that their "rule by murder and fear must come to an end." She added, "Those who perpetrated this atrocity must be identified and held to account."[15] The American government said that this act was further evidence of an "inhuman and illegitimate Syrian government" that responds to peaceful political protest with "unspeakable and inhuman brutality."[32]
