Taramseh Killings Increase Pressure

Syria’s civil war entered a new and deadly phase this week, with reports of the largest massacre in the country since the uprising began, the defection of a senior Syrian diplomat and a continuing diplomatic row between the members of the UN Security Council. The Syrian opposition reported on Friday that over 200 people were killed in the town of Taramseh, in the province of Hama, by government shelling, attacks by helicopter gunships, and summary executions by loyalist militias known as s...

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Syrian Mire

Diplomatic pressure on Syria has mounted this week, as countries around the world have announced the expulsion of Syrian diplomats in protest at the massacre close to the Syrian town of Houla last weekend, in the province of Homs. More than one hundred people were killed in the attack, including 20 women and almost 50 children, according to reports in Western newspapers. A UN report said that many of the dead were shot at close range, with less than 20 of the total casualties killed by sh...

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