Pro-government forces attacked the village of Al-Kubeir and the nearby village of Maazarif in Hama province in central Syria yesterday. More than 78 people, including women and children, were killed in the savage attacks.
Pro-government troops first shelled the area for five hours. Then militiamen, known as shabiha, entered the area, “killing and hacking everyone they could find.” Women and children were among those hacked to death with knives in their homes. Other bodies were burned.
Witnesses reported that “bodies were everywhere.” “Entire families were either shot or killed with sharp sticks and knives.” According to one villager, it was said that “the shabiha militiamen danced around their corpses, chanting songs praising Assad.”
Reaction
United Nations observers attempting to reach the area were denied access and then were shot at with small arms. There were no casualties, but the observers pulled back after the incident.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told a General Assembly session that the attack was “shocking and sickening.” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attack as “simply unconscionable.” British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the massacre as “brutal and sickening” and called for “concerted action” from the international community.
The second attack in two weeks
A similar attack occurred less than two weeks ago in the town of Houla, where 90 people were killed by pro-government forces. The Syrian government denied responsibility for that attack also.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
5 Comments
Having Koffin Annan & the UN come into ones country is the equivalent of having an undertaker coming to your home to measure one for a coffin. Assad is also obviously well stocked with sociopaths & psychopaths.
Mr. Merlo, do you mind explaining your statement about Kofi Annan a little further?
Sorry, it’s just that I’m not that good with political metaphors.
Also, about Assad, I think in his case, the psychopaths are the ones making the decisions at the top (psychopaths have no empathy for others and don’t care about other’s suffering), while the field commanders and sergeants are the sociopaths doing the killings (sociopaths not only have no empathy for others, they are anti-social towards those they do not like or care for, manifesting in violent behaviors).
A BBC News report describes al-Qubair as “just a few single-storey flat-roofed buildings set in the middle of golden corn fields”
It was reported that the population before the attacks was around 150 people. (Wiki)
And its practically upon the Mediterranean!
How can one make sense of this? Is this local score-settling? Is this part of the Long War?
Whatever it is, what a world we/they live in!
@sundoesntrise: Mr. Merlo’s comment about the UN is very simple. Having the UN come to you country to “observe” does nothing.
IMO (and i hate to say this, in the US’s current state) the only way to solve this is with military action. Military action (under the guise of UN) like in Muammar Gadaffi’s case seemed to work.
But then what? — Libya isn’t a better place now than before, what will Syria become? Smart people in high places need to think about this long and hard before a decision is made.
Libya is stagnant right now. I think a case can be made that it is even worse than under Gaddafi.
The Libyan civil war was a bunch of Gaddafi thugs against a bunch of loosely organized militia thugs from various parts of the country. The militia side won with air support and special forces on the ground from various western nations. It’s no secret now that special forces helped the rebels in Libya:
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-08-24/world/libya.foreign.forces_1_rebel-forces-special-forces-rebel-units?_s=PM:WORLD
I predict that once the Assad gov’t falls, a large drawn out civil war will ensue between Alawites and Sunni Islamists.
One of the biggest problems with these Arab uprisings was that even though all these governments were indeed repressive and corrupt, the grass wasn’t always necessarily greener on the other side of the fence, the other side of the fence being tribal/militia warfare and bearded men with AK-47s running around bulldozing shrines and slowly installing Sharia law, as is the case in Libya, Egypt, and some parts of Tunisia today.