Terror in Syria - Brutal and defiant

Even if you accept that the situation in Syria is a lot more complex that is immediately apparent, the fact that the UN estimates that Dr Assad’s forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the past year puts his dictatorship in a very specific, brutal category.

That his forces killed at least 31 more people yesterday, despite peace agreements, does little more than confirm his tyranny. That many of these were refugees fleeing across the Turkish border makes the killings atrocities on a par with any war crime committed in recent decades.

Russia and China, for whatever reasons, have vetoed punitive UN Security Council action against Syria. In the light of the attacks on refugees it is hard to see how that position can be maintained for much longer.