DAMASCUS — International envoy Kofi Annan led the world in condemning the killing of around 230 people in the Syrian village of Treimsa in what the opposition said Friday was a massacre by government forces and the regime said only involved a clash with rebels. News of Thursday's killings in Hema province drew all-round condemnation, with calls for tougher UN action in the 16-month uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad. Annan accused that Syrian forces used heavy weaponry in Treimsa in violation of its commitments to his peace plan. Annan voiced shock at the “intense fighting, significant casualties, and the confirmed use of heavy weaponry such as artillery, tanks and helicopters.” Estimates of the tally of the dead ranged from a government assertion that 50 people were killed, to claims by a resident that 230 bodies had been readied for burial Friday. Video posted online showed the bloodied corpses of some 15 mostly young men lying dead on the ground. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was outraged by the new massacre and asked the UN Security Council to take urgent action to stop the violence. Clinton said that history will judge the Council if it fails to act. She urged its members to ask themselves if inaction is the legacy they wish to leave. Although not mentioned by name, Clinton's warning was directed at Russia and China, which have repeatedly blocked UN efforts to impose sanctions on Syria. The head of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council called for the UN Security Council to take firm action against Damascus. Abdullatif Al-Zayani branded Thursday's massacre as “a savage, terrorist act contrary to the precepts of Islam” and urged the Security Council “to put an end to the painful tragedy of the Syrian people.” Russia also condemned the latest massacre as a “bloody atrocity” which it blamed on forces that want to foment inter-ethnic conflict and civil war. “We resolutely condemn this bloody atrocity,” the foreign ministry said. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton denounced the massacre as “an atrocity” and “a blatant violation” of Annan plan. “I am deeply shocked by reports of the ruthless killing of at least 200 men, women and children,” she said in a statement. France said the UN Security Council must assume its responsibilities and pass a resolution backed by the threat of sanctions. “Stiffened resolve must now be shown with the threat of sanctions from the Security Council. The time has come for everyone to assume their responsibilities,” a foreign ministry spokesman said. Meanwhile, Syria's armed rebels criticized high-profile defector Manaf Tlass and his father while setting an end of July deadline for regime figures to defect or face the risk of assassination. “We don't consider the departure (from Syria) of Mustafa Tlass and his son, General Manaf, as defections but rather an international ploy” to seek a transition, said the Free Syrian Army (FSA) leadership. “The two Tlasses should honestly tell the Syrian people where they were before (leaving the country) and what was their role since the start of the revolution,” it said. On the ground, troops shot at protesters in Damascus and Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, reporting at least 63 deaths across the country. Amid reports of a rebel ambush and a counter-attack, the observatory said regime forces with tanks and helicopter gunships were backed by militias in the Treimsa incident. — Agencies
