Syria: Women and children were executed, says UN report

The United Nations human rights office said yesterday that most of the 108 victims of a massacre in Houla were shot at close range, including women, children and entire families gunned down in their own homes.

The massacre on Friday in Houla drew international outrage.

“We are at a tipping point,” special envoy Kofi Annan told reporters in Damascus. “The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division.”

The UN report said most of the dead were killed execution-style, with fewer than 20 cut down by shelling. The UN cited survivors blaming the house-to-house killings on pro-government thugs known as shabiha, who often operate as hired muscle for the regime.

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“What is very clear is this was an absolutely abominable event that took place in Houla, and at least a substantial part of it was summary executions of civilians, women and children,” said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High commissioner for Human Rights.

“At this point, it looks like entire families were shot in their houses.”

Houla activists reached said government troops shelled the area after anti-government protests on Friday and clashed with rebels. Later, shabiha from nearby villages swept through the area, stabbing residents and shooting them at close range.

Videos posted online by anti-regime activists show explosions in Houla, dismembered bodies lying in the streets, and then row upon row of the dead laid out before being buried in a mass grave.

The Syrian regime has denied any role in the massacre, blaming the killings on “armed terrorists” who attacked army positions in the area and slaughtered innocent civilians.

UN investigators have said they found tank and artillery shells in Houla after the attack, but they stopped short of blaming regime forces for the killings.

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