Massacre In Syria

Massacre in Syria
    The military in Syria moved (aggressively) to reclaim territory that had been lost in the revolt in the south of the country over the past few days. This was reported by anti goverment activists and it was said that in one town there were at least 60 casualties that included women and children. They were killed "in what the opposition called a government-ordered atrocity motivated by revenge." This report could not be independently verified. It happened in a town called Sanamayn (between Damascus and Dara'a) which sits astride a crucial highway that rebels have been trying and fighting to gain control of for weeks. Squads associated with the Syrian Army had taken over many towns south of Sanamayn. Earlier in the month they also took over a military base near Dara'a. This was the same place that the revolt against the president, Bashar al-Assad started over two years ago.  The Observatory for Human Rights in Syria stated that the military began the attack on Sanamayn Wednesday. They shelled and shot randomly as they burned/wrecked 20 houses or more. Those victimized were, at least, seven women and five children under 18. One anti-Assad activist was reached by telephone and said his name was Qaysar, for safety purposes, and stated that some of the victims were "summarily executed or stabbed or burned." He then state that residents of Sanamayn had also been displaced and uprooted due to the civil-war that hit other parts of Syria as well as some Damascus suburbs. Since Thursday the town has remained encloses by government forces. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces reported the killings in Sanamayn was a massacre by the military that "slaughters civilians in retaliation for its defeats." Cairo headquarters made a statement that said these killings had been done "for no other reason than to satisfy they hunger for killing and the thirst of blood which control the hears of the members of the criminal Assad regime." There were no reports of this in the state-run media. Both sides have continued accusing the other more and more of these atrocities which have totaled to more than 70,000 people dead. Human Rights advocacy groups stated that a most of these murders were done by government forces, which use heavy weapons and warplanes more and more. One of these groups made an accusation to the authorities of war crimes, Thursday, of commanding indiscriminate and intentional airstrikes against civilians. These targets included bakeries and hospitals in which civilians stood in line for bread. In addition it inflicted punishment on the Free Syrian Army and other armed adversaries of the Assad government. It was said that rebels were not careful enough to avoid deploying forces and placing headquarters by or in crowed/highly populated areas. The group that was based in New York stated that increasingly reported airstrikes by the opposing activists desperately after supplies of antiaircraft weapons, constituted "serious violations" of international humanitarian law. "Death From the Skies," a report, stated that "people who commit such violations with criminal intent are responsible for war crimes." The media web did not report any governments response to the accusations. The government has consistently stated that military actions it takes are "justified responses to terrorism."
    While the destruction of homes and the murder of citizens is a definite problem another disturbing problem is the lack of action. Even though accusations have continued to rise civilians are continuing to die at the hand of the military. The government so far has not been held responsible and the media is not shedding any light on it. This creates a mixture of violations of human rights, lack of government involvement, and ignorance due to the media not being actively involved in these atrocities. This takes away power from the people in several ways. The government is taking lives and destroying homes and citizens are not informed which makes it impossible to make change.

Molly Winfree
04/12/13
3:49 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0