Orkhan Sattarov. Exclusively to VK
Drastic videos of a violent massacre of the peaceful population in the town of Houla were immediately spread all over the world. According to the latest data, 108 local residents were killed and 300 were injured on the night of May 25-26 – right ahead of the visit by the special envoy of the LAS and the UN Kofi Annan to Damascus. Therefore, the “peace plan” of Kofi Annan actually failed, at least because one of sides publically rejected its fulfillment. Rosbalt reports that militants of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) stated they wouldn’t follow Annan’s plan until the UN protects citizens from the violence of the government army and the police in Syria.
Earlier, the head of the military council of FSA, General Mustafa Ahmed ash Sheikh, urged the international community to interfere in the Syrian conflict by military measures after the massacre in Houla. Moreover, he called for all armed oppositionists to begin wide-scale military activity against the regime.
The regime of Bashar Assad denies its involvement in the massacre, accusing militants, terrorists, and Al Qaeda of it. Russia is ready to support Assad. Russian diplomats do not exclude the possibility of a provocation. “It is possible, because the tragedy took place under shadowy circumstances,” Russia’s first deputy envoy at the UN, Alexander Pankin, told journalists, RIA reports. According to him, a big anti-government demonstration took place in Houla, but there were no government troops. “There must be a provocation element,” Pankin said. Russian experts are sure that official Damascus had no reason to massacre a whole village, as it discredits the peace initiative by Kofi Annan. The plan for a peace settlement doesn’t presuppose the obligatory resignation of the Syrian leader, and this was the main point in consensus between the West and Russia and China.
However, the fact that Assad promised certain things, but in reality did other things caused even more peace initiatives beneficial for official Damascus. The mass media reported that the Syrian army shot opposition activists who few hours earlier enthusiastically spoke to observers of the UN. Moreover, we cannot exclude that Bashar Assad controls his own army at an insufficient level.
Plus surviving residents of Houla directly state that the massacre was committed by government troops who were supported by militants of paramilitary Alawi groups. The UN Security Council made a strict statement on the massacre in Houla, and the Western countries started to banish Syrian diplomats. Experts believe that the massacre in Hula might be a reason for military interference in the Syrian conflict.
Nevertheless, after the massacre in Houla the West gained another opportunity to begin a wide-scale diplomatic attack not only against Syria, but also against Russia, and try to make it stop supporting Assad. The leading Western powers directly accused Damascus of the massacre without the results of the UN investigation.
The US hopes that the tragedy in the Syrian town of Houla will change Russia’s position on the Syrian conflict, Victoria Nuland stated, RIA reports. French President Francois Hallande also hopes to make the authorities of Russia and China agree on the necessity of strict sanctions against the Syrian government.
However, Russia doesn’t rush to conclusions. The head of the Foreign Ministry, Sergey Lavrov, told Kofi Annan during their telephone conversation that a peaceful settlement of the situation in Syria has become even more urgent.
Annan confirmed his intention to continue working and expressed gratitude to the Russian side for constant support of his efforts.
According to Lavrov, Russia is worried about permanent attempts of some countries to scuttle Annan’s plan by using the tragedy in Houla. He also emphasized that the problem of refugees becomes a reason for demanding from the UN SC to sanction a military operation against Syria. Moscow still follows the pro-Syrian direction. However, it is obvious that in the context of violence escalation in Syria, it is more and more difficult to find arguments against strengthening sanctions against Damascus. The events in Houla proved that the Syrian regime cannot maintain order in the country.
At the same time, the murder of the peaceful population in the village of Srebreniza in Bosnia and Herzegovina showed that the UN peacemakers are useless in the protection of citizens.
