Far from being subdued by the world’s condemnation of last week’s atrocity in Syria, the forces and militiamen loyal to President Assad have carried out another massacre in his name.
Reports have been surfacing of an overnight attack on a village close to the town of Hama in which another 70 to 100 Syrian women and children lost their lives. These reports have not been confirmed as United Nations observers, who are in the country to monitor a non-existent ceasefire, have been blocked from entering the village by Syrian government troops.
Opposition groups are claiming that the victims were brutally attacked, stabbed to death and had their bodies burned.
A fair amount of the blame for this latest massacre has be placed upon Russia and China, who last weekend vetoed an international response against Assad’s regime. Without this ‘vote of confidence’ he would surely have thought twice before allowing another indiscriminate attack against his own people.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the government in Syria for “simply unconscionable” violence. While prime minister David Cameron said:
“Frankly, the international community has got to condemn absolutely this regime and President Assad for what he is doing.”
and
“I think that lots of different countries in the world – countries that sit around the UN Security Council table – have got to sit down today and discuss this issue.”
It is a certainty that discussion is not going to bring the dead children back to life.
When there is a genuine reason to take action against an oppressive regime – unlike in the recent theatres of war – all the politicians will do is sit around a table and talk.