While
Reuters earlier quoted activists as saying that Civilians and the Syrian army prevented a team of
United Nations monitors from entering the village of Mazraat al-Qubeir on
Thursday following reports of the killings of at least 78 villagers by militants
loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, the pro-government al-Dunia TV just
stated that the U.N. monitors arrived in the village.
Sausan Ghosheh, a spokeswoman for the U.N.
monitors, would not comment directly on whether entry to the village had been
refused, saying: "We have dispatched a patrol which is trying to get
access there."
For its
part the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood accused President Bachar Assad’s regime of
committing the massacre that took place on Wednesday in Hama province. They
also held the international community and the neighboring Arab and Muslim
states responsible of the massacres that are being committed against the Syrian
people.
In turn, the National Syrian Council
called on the Syrian people to organize a public mourning and escalate civil
activity for two days, in protest against the massacres of Hama province.
Concerning international reactions, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron is
urging concerted action from the international community against Syrian
President Bashar Assad's regime amid reports of another massacre of civilians
there.
Cameron said Thursday that if the reports of the "brutal and sickening
attack" are true, it adds further proof that the Assad regime is
"completely illegitimate and cannot stand."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a breakfast
meeting with her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, with the situation in
Syria high on the agenda.
Clinton arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday (June 6), when she
joined ministers and envoys from Europe, Turkey and Arab states for a
conference on Syria.
Delegates agreed at the meeting to convene a "coordination group" to
provide support to the Syrian opposition but left unclear what this may entail.
They also discussed "additional steps" including coordination on an
"effective and credible transition process" to lead to a
"democratic, post-Assad Syria," a Turkish statement said. It added
that the group would be represented at a meeting of Syrian rebels in Istanbul
next week.
The U.S. Secretary of State told the
group that transition in Syria must include a full representative interim
government that would pave the way for a full transfer of power in free and
fair elections.
Clinton added that Assad must
transfer power and leave Syria, noting that she is willing to work with Russia
on Syria transition conference as long as it starts with premise that Assad
government must yield to democracy.
On Annan's plan, Clinton said that the latter should be given the "last
amount of support".
Meanwhile France announced that it will host the third "Friends of Syria" meeting in Paris on July 6, its foreign ministry said on Thursday, as pressure mounts on world powers to act to stem the escalating bloodshed in an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Such meetings bring together a coalition of countries, which include France, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, that want Assad's rule to end. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius set the date for the latest talks during a meeting in Istanbul on Thursday.
"In the face of a worrying aggravation of the situation in Syria ... France has decided to organize on July 6 in Paris the third ministerial meeting of the Friends of Syria group, which follows those in Tunis and Istanbul," his ministry said in a statement.
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the new massacre calling it "barbaric", adding that it is a provocation aimed to foil the Annan plan.
AP/LBCI