Annan Arrives in Syria, Urging Cease-Fire After Massacre
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Kofi Annan, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, arrived Monday in Damascus, where he expressed horror at the massacre of more than 100 villagers in Houla and urged both sides to stop fighting.
"I am personally shocked and horrified by the tragic incident in Houla two days ago, which took so many innocent lives, children, women and men," Mr. Annan said from the lobby of his hotel in brief remarks that were broadcast by satellite television networks.
He stressed that respecting the cease-fire was the responsibility of all sides, saying his message of peace was intended "for everyone with a gun." Mr. Annan, a former secretary general of the United Nations, is scheduled to meet with Walid Mouallem, the Syrian foreign minister, later on Monday and with President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday. He will also meet with opposition figures from within Syria.
The United Nations Security Council on Sunday unanimously condemned the Syrian government for its role in the massacre of at least 108 villagers, with new details emerging from international observers that appeared to prompt rare Russian cooperation in criticizing its ally in Damascus.
The 15-member Council approved a statement that, while not blaming the Syrian government directly for all the deaths, rebuked it for its use of tanks and artillery against civilians despite agreeing to the April 12 cease-fire.
"The evidence is clear — it is not murky," Peter Wittig, the German envoy, told reporters after the emergency meeting. "There is a clear government footprint in those killings."
The main point of Mr. Annan's talks will be to try to implement a six-point plan the government agreed to in March, which includes the cease-fire, political dialogue and the right of Syrians to demonstrate.
But Mr. Assad has repeatedly shown himself to be impervious to international pressure. A string of international leaders have criticized the Syrian leader for promising to respect the cease-fire while continuing to use force to try to put down the uprising. Indeed, there were reports of another case of Syrian shelling of civilians on Sunday and early Monday, this time at Hama, a center of resistance where activists said dozens had been killed. The details could not be confirmed.
Mr. Annan, the envoy of both the United Nations and the Arab League, comes with a new mandate from the Security Council — including Russia — to implement his plan. The council requested that the investigation into the Houla attacks proceed, he said, and noted that Syria has said it had also appointed a committee to look into the attacks.
"Those responsible for these brutal crimes must be held accountable," Mr. Annan said. He also urged the Syrian government "to take bold steps to signal that it is serious in its intention to resolve this crisis peacefully and for everyone involved to help create the right context for a credible political process."
From the beginning, his plan has been given slim chances of success. But it was seen as an acceptable means to try to bridge the differences over Syria between the West and the Arab states on one side and Russia, China and Iran on the other.
Some analysts have called it an international stalling measure, because the Western appetite for military intervention in the conflict is low even in the absence of Russian opposition.
In Moscow on Monday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, and his British counterpart, William Hague, agreed on the need to fully implement the six-point peace plan negotiated under United Nations auspices.
Mr. Hague stressed that Russia had a special role in pressuring the Syrian government to implement the plan, while acknowledging some differences over Syria. "The absolute urgent priority is to have the Annan plan implemented," Mr. Hague told a joint news conference, particularly getting a political process started.
Mr. Lavrov stressed that while Russia was not tied to Mr. Assad staying in power, the main point was that there be a transition that the Syrians themselves piloted. Russian policy on Syria has long been motivated by blocking any repeat of the outside interference that took place in Libya.
"It is not the most important thing who is in power in Syria, what regime has power," Mr. Lavrov said. "For us, the main thing is to put an end to the violence among civilians and to provide for political dialogue under which the Syrians themselves decide on the sovereignty of their country."
Without naming any countries, he also said that Syria's immediate neighbors who opposed the Assad government were not helping the situation by pushing regime change. "We do exert pressure on the Syrian government daily," Mr. Lavrov said, adding that supporters of the opposition should do the same in pushing toward a political solution.
The United Nations says at least 108 people, including 49 children and 34 women, died in Friday's attacks in the area of Houla, a collection of Sunni villages 15 miles northwest of the central city of Homs. Villagers told the United Nations monitors that at least some of the killings had been committed by "shabiha," or government thugs, at close range — those combatants tend to be Alawites, the same minority sect that includes Mr. Assad.
The Council's statement is sure to be a factor in efforts by Mr. Annan to begin negotiating with the government to carry out the peace plan.
Some Syrian opposition figures have criticized Western efforts to push the cease-fire when it was clear that the government held it in contempt, and a few threatened vengeance against Alawites.
The issue also reverberated in partisan politics in the United States, with Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, calling the massacre "horrific" and criticizing President Obama for backing the Annan plan.
"The Annan 'peace' plan — which President Obama still supports — has merely granted the Assad regime more time to execute its military onslaught," the Romney statement said. "The United States should work with partners to organize and arm Syrian opposition groups so they can defend themselves."
Russia has typically rejected any international effort to support the opposition in a way that might repeat the NATO military intervention in Libya, and despite strong statements, the West has avoided getting further embroiled in the Syria fighting out of fear of the long-term consequences.
In a three-page letter on Sunday, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, demanded a concrete attempt to censure Syria and endorse the cease-fire.
In his letter, Mr. Ban skated close to blaming Syrian government shelling for at least some of the deaths in Houla while carefully noting that the cause had not been completely determined. United Nations monitors "observed shotgun wounds and wounds consistent with artillery fire."
The Russians seemed to be swayed by the arguments that it made little sense that the opposition, which is heavily Sunni Muslim, or even extremist jihadist elements would kill so many of their own faith in cold blood, said one Security Council diplomat, speaking anonymously about a closed-door session.
Over all, Mr. Ban's letter said the monitors found evidence of "appalling and brutal crimes, which involved indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force."
One of the reasons that the Security Council had to act firmly, Mr. Ban said, is that ordinary Syrians are blaming the unarmed United Nations observers for not doing more to stop the violence, even if there are misconceptions about their role.
The Syrian government on Sunday rejected any tie to the massacre. "We unequivocally deny the responsibility of government forces for the massacre," Jihad Makdissi, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told a news conference. He reiterated government claims that the killings were the result of a terrorist attack, and he regretted that the United Nations and other foreign governments seemed to have accepted the opposition's version of events.
Amateur videos said to be taken in the aftermath showed row after row of victims, many of them small children, with what appeared to be bullet holes in their temples or what the opposition said were stab wounds.
Mr. Makdissi said the army did not send any tanks into the town of Houla, that security forces did not leave their positions and remained in a defensive posture. Instead, he said, hundreds of gunmen armed with machine guns, mortars and antitank missiles began attacking government positions in a skirmish that lasted much of the day and well into the night. Three soldiers were killed and 16 wounded, he said.
Kuwait, which currently holds the presidency of the Arab League, announced an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers on the massacre. Syrian ties with the League were strained last year after its membership was suspended.
In Istanbul, Burhan Ghalioun, the president of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group in exile, called on the international community to honor its commitment to protect Syrian civilians, saying if it did not, they would have no choice than to take matters into their own hands. "The international community suffers from a lack of will when it comes to protecting Syrian civilians," Mr. Ghalioun, who is leaving the presidency, told a news conference. "The situation in Syria is truly explosive."
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