Syria: UN monitors trying to reach new massacre site are shot at

United Nations monitors were shot at while trying to get to the scene of the latest Syrian massacre, secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said yesterday.

The UN chief told a special session of the General Assembly that the unarmed observers were initially denied access to the scene in central Hama and “were shot at with small arms” while trying to get there. He did not mention any casualties.

Mr Ban said each day in Syria saw more “grim atrocities” and for many months it had been evident that president Bashar al-Assad and his government “have lost all legitimacy”.

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He said any regime that tolerated killings such as last month’s massacre of more than 100 civilians in Houla and Wednesday’s attack in Hama “has lost its fundamental humanity”, and he condemned “this unspeakable barbarity”.

Earlier, monitoring team chief General Robert Mood said some UN patrols were also stopped by civilians in the area and that observers were informed by residents that their safety would be at risk if they entered Mazraat al-Qubair in central Hama province.

Syrian opposition groups say pro-government militiamen had killed dozens of people, including women and children, in Mazraat al-Qubair last night, with some stabbed to death and others burned.

Mr Ban called on Mr Assad to immediately implement international mediator Kofi Annan’s six-point peace plan.

“Today’s news reports of another massacre are shocking and sickening,” he told the 193-nation assembly.

“A village apparently surrounded by Syrian forces. The bodies of innocent civilians lying where they were, shot. Some allegedly burned or slashed with knives. “We condemn this unspeakable barbarity and renew our determination to bring those responsible to account,” he said

Later, Mr Annan urged the world’s nations to unite behind a new effort to end the escalating Syrian conflict and said there should be “consequences” if his peace plan was not implemented.

Mr Annan told the UN General Assembly the time had come to determine what more could be done.

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He urged the international community to take their unity to a new level and “genuinely unite behind one process and act and speak with one voice”.

He said if this happens, he believes it is “still possible to avert the worst” – increasing violence, polarisation and radicalisation, and the spillover of the conflict. Mr Annan expressed “horror and condemnation” at yesterday’s massacre and said: “We cannot allow mass killing to become part of everyday reality in Syria.”

Some observers believe the peace plan is doomed because of the Assad regime’s apparent determination to use military force to crush the opposition.

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