A letter to the Security Council from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also
confirmed that UN observers had “viewed the bodies of the dead and
confirmed from an examination of ordnance that artillery and tank shells
were fired at a residential neighbourhood.”
After the meeting, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant pointed to the
bombardment by government artillery and tanks as the cause of the killings.
“The Security Council has made it abundantly clear through its
resolutions that there are no circumstances whatsoever that justify the use
of heavy weapons and tanks against civilian population,” he said.
“Those weapons and tanks should have been returned to their barracks
months ago.
“So, it does not matter, to be honest, what the exact circumstances in
the run up to this atrocity was. The fact is that it is an atrocity, and it
was perpetrated by the Syrian government.”
Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Alexander Pankin said Moscow was sceptical about
suggestions that the Syrian government had been behind the massacre, saying
it appeared most of the victims were killed with knives or shot at
point-blank range.
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