The opposition Syrian National Council has urged the UN Security Council to act urgently after claiming that regime forces massacred scores of civilians, including many children, in the town of Houla. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the massacre and said he was “making immediate arrangements for a Friends of Syria group meeting in Paris.” He spoke after the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) again called for the Friends of Syria group of nations to carry out air strikes on the forces of President Bashar Al-Assad. Against that backdrop, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights accused the Arab and international communities of being “complicit” in the killing. The Britain-based observatory said the shelling had killed more than 90 people in Houla, including 25 children. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the accounts from Syria, which has restricted access for journalists during a 14-month-old revolt against President Bashar Al-Assad. However amateur videos posted on YouTube showed horrifying images of children lying dead on a floor. Some of their corpses badly mangled, with at least one child's head partly blown away. The observatory accused the international community of standing “silent in the face of the massacres committed by the Syrian regime.” Earlier, SNC spokeswoman Basma Kodmani said “more than 110 people were killed (half of whom are children) by the Syrian regime's forces” in Houla. “Some of the victims were hit by heavy artillery while others, entire families, were massacred.” “The Syrian National Council urges the UN Security Council to call for an emergency meeting to examine the situation in Houla and to determine the responsibility of the United Nations in face of such mass killings, expulsions and forced migration from entire neighborhoods,” she added. State news agency SANA blamed “armed terrorist groups” for the killings, adding that “clashes led to the killing of several terrorists and the martyrdom of several members of the special forces.” Members of the UN team of military observers in the country Saturday visited Houla to assess the situation, SANA and the observatory said. They went to the village of Taldau on the edge of Houla “to document the crimes committed in the past 24 hours, in violation of the ceasefire,” the observatory said, adding that “explosions and gunfire could be heard.” On Saturday morning, people turned out to protest the killings, anti-regime activists said. In Kfar Nubul, in the northwestern province of Idlib, scores of men and women took to the streets to honor the dead, chanting: “We sacrifice our soul and life for you, O people of Houla,” according to an amateur video posted on YouTube.
