‘Unprecedented massacre’ in Syria

SYRIAN forces killed 111 people ahead of the start of a mission to monitor President Bashar al-Assad’s implementation of an Arab League peace plan, activists claimed.

France branded the killings an “unprecedented massacre”.

Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 111 civilians and activists were killed, in addition to more than 100 casualties among army deserters in Idlib province, turning Tuesday into the “bloodiest day of the Syrian revolution”.

“There was a massacre of an unprecedented scale in Syria on Tuesday,” said French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero. “It is urgent that the UN Security Council issues a firm resolution that calls for an end to the repression.”

The main opposition Syrian National Council — an anti-government coalition in exile in Istanbul, Turkey — demanded international action to protect civilians.

The escalating death toll in nine months of popular unrest has raised the spectre of civil war in Syria with Assad, 46, still trying to stamp out protests with troops and tanks despite international sanctions imposed to push him on to a reform path.

Idlib, a north-western province which borders Turkey, has been a hotbed of protest during the revolt, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world, and has also seen escalating attacks by armed insurgents against his forces.

The observatory said rebels had damaged or destroyed 17 military vehicles in Idlib since Sunday and killed 14 members of the security forces on Tuesday in an ambush in the southern province of Deraa, where anti-Assad protests began in March.

Tuesday’s bloodshed brought the death toll reported by activists in the past 48 hours to more than 200.

The Syrian National Council said 250 people died on Monday and Tuesday in “bloody massacres”, and the Arab League and UN must protect civilians.

It demanded “an emergency UN Security Council session to discuss the [Assad] regime’s massacres in Jabal al-Zawiyah, Idlib and Homs, in particular”, and called for “safe zones” to be set up under international protection.

It said those regions should be declared disaster areas and urged the International Red Crescent and other relief agencies to provide humanitarian aid.

Arab League secretary general Nabil Elaraby said an advance observer team was going to Syria yesterday to prepare the way for 150 monitors due to arrive by the end of the month.

Syria stalled for weeks before signing a protocol to admit the monitors, who will check its compliance with the plan mandating an end to violence, withdrawal of troops from the streets, release of prisoners and dialogue with the opposition.

“In a week’s time, from the start of the operation, we will know (if Syria is complying),” said Elaraby.

Syrian pro-democracy activists are deeply sceptical about Assad’s commitment to the plan, which, if implemented, could embolden demonstrators demanding an end to his 11-year rule, which followed three decades of domination by his father.

Some opposition leaders have called for foreign military intervention to protect civilians.