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February 5th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
William Hague, the foreign secretary, said Russia and China had “let the
Syrian people down” and their veto would encourage more killing.
“Russia and China faced a simple choice today: would they support the people
of Syria and the Arab League or not?” he said. “They decided not to, and
instead sided with the Syrian regime and its brutal suppression of the
Syrian people in support of their own national interests.”
Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, who had earlier discussed Moscow’s
concerns directly with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said: “I
thought that there might be some ways to bridge, even at this last moment, a
few of the concerns that the Russians had.
“I offered to work in a constructive manner to do so. That has not been
possible.”
But Russia insisted that the resolution was “unbalanced” and amounted to an
attempt by the West to force regime change in Syria.
China’s representative to the UN, Li Baodong, said: “To push through a vote
when parties are still seriously divided over the issue will not help
maintain the unity and authority of the Security Council, or help resolve
the issue.”
Earlier, world leaders had united to condemn the attack on Homs. “Yesterday
the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women
and children, in Homs,” President Barack Obama said in a written statement.
“Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people
now. He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed
immediately.”
Mr Hague said: “The Syrian regime’s actions display President Assad’s
cold-blooded cynicism in the face of mounting international pressure for the
UN security council to do its utmost to end the bloodshed.
“The escalating violence underlines the critical importance of the security
council adding its weight to the Arab League’s efforts to end the crisis in
Syria.”
The assault began without warning at 10pm on Friday, activists in the city and
in London said, and lasted five hours. Rami Abdulrahman, of the London-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said his contacts had counted 237 dead,
including 99 women and children.
Activists speaking by phone from inside the figure said the number was higher,
but even the lower figure would make the assault the bloodiest single
atrocity of the uprising.
The government claimed film footage showing the victims was a set-up using the
bodies of people kidnapped and killed by “armed gangs”, and said it was a
deliberate attempt to build up hostility towards the regime in advance of
the UN resolution.
Within hours of the bombardment starting, pictures flooded YouTube and
television stations of bodies piling up in chaotic aid stations, disfigured
by explosions. Lines of lifeless young men splattered with blood packed the
rooms of a mosque in one particularly gruelling clip, though it could not be
confirmed they were victims of the attack.
Another clip showed a teenage boy, his face covered by his jacket.
“We were sitting inside our house when we started hearing the shelling. We
felt shells were falling on our heads,” a resident called Walid said . “The
morning has come and we have discovered more bodies, bodies are on the
streets. Some are still under the rubble.”
Mr Abdulrahman said the attack was unaccountable, because there had been less
conflict than usual in the city during the day, usually a day of intense
protest after Friday prayers.
But he said the regime’s attention had turned to Homs after a troop of
soldiers had been ambushed with several deaths by Free Syrian Army fighters
in Deraa, in Syria’s far south.
“Two hours later they started the first bombing in Homs,” he said.
Of those who died, most were from Khalidiya, a suburb that has been under
effective rebel control. “Abu Jihad”, who lives in Khalidiya, spoke as mass
funerals began in the street behind him, divided into batches of 25 and 50,
he said, to minimise the chance of troops attacking the funeral processions.
A crowd 100,000 strong had gathered in the central square of Khalidiya,
renamed Hurreya or Freedom Square, and were chanting against the regime, he
said.
“They fired mortars at us, just to punish us,” he said. “The attack targeted
civilian areas and civilian people, because Khalidiya is a symbol of the
revolution in Homs.”
Homs has suffered by far the most casualties of any province of the uprising.
The Free Syrian Army has been patrolling some streets openly, and fighting
cat-and-mouse battles with the regular army.
Mohammed Saleh, who lives outside the city but has relatives inside, said that
following the bombardment there were skirmishes a mile away on the road to
Hama, with soldiers firing wildly in all directions and causing more
civilian casualties. The fighting centred on a base of the Mukhabarat, or
General Intelligence Department.
At the United Nations, Britain, the US and France determined to go ahead with
the security council vote, believing that after constant negotiations and
amendments the Russians were merely playing for time.
They rejected amendments tabled by Russia putting equal blame on the “armed
elements” of the opposition for the violence that it said would enable it to
support the resolution.
Mr Lavrov said Russia could not support any resolution that “took sides” in a
civil war, but said his amendments were conducive to an agreement.
The draft had already been watered down from the original, which repeated
almost verbatim an Arab League timetable for Mr Assad to cede powers to his
deputy, oversee the formation of a unity government with the opposition, and
hold elections within six months.
The subsequent version said Syria should move “in accordance with” the Arab
League plan, but Russia wanted this further altered to merely “take into
account” the plan.
Anger over events in Syria spilled over into European and Arab capitals, with
several Syrian embassies being stormed including in London and Berlin. The
embassy in Kuwait had its windows smashed, while a mob entered the ground
floor of the embassy in Cairo and set fire to it.
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