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In reply to the discussion: Syria blames rebels for Houla massacre [View all]pampango
(24,692 posts)As my colleagues Steven Lee Myers and J. David Goodman report, on Thursday, Syrias foreign ministry announced the results of a three-day investigation into the massacre of more than 100 people, almost half of them children, in the village of Houla last week.
Although survivors of the rampage told journalists, human rights investigators and United Nations observers this week that the slaughter was carried out by pro-government militiamen from neighboring villages, who moved in after shelling by the Syrian Army, the commission of inquiry appointed by President Bashar al-Assad found the Syrian government completely blameless.
At a news conference broadcast on Syrian state television, Brig. Gen. Qassem Jamal Suleiman, the chief investigator, claimed that hundreds of men, equipped with heavy weapons, had managed to enter the village despite the presence of the Syrian troops nearby, and carry out the massacre.
Endorsing a theory put forward by Syrias ambassador to the U.N. on Wednesday, General Suleiman claimed the killings were staged by the opposition to incite a sectarian civil war, and provide a pretext to bring foreign military intervention against the country in any form and way.
In an interview from Damascus at the end of his report, Mr. Thomson noted with incredulity that the Syrian government panel had even denied that the shelling of the village, where there have been firefights between the Syrian Army and rebels, had been carried out by government forces.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/syrian-government-investigates-massacre-and-finds-syrian-government-blameless/