Syria Opposition Wants U.N. Meet Over Hama ‘Crimes’
Syria’s main opposition group on Thursday called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as it accused regime forces of having killed more than 100 people in the central city of Hama.
The appeal came as Russia accused rebels of terror attack and France raised the prospect of military action to halt violence in Syria, where President Bashar Assad’s forces have waged a bloody year-long crackdown on dissent.
“We are calling for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council so that it can issue a resolution to protect civilians in Syria,” the Syrian National Council said in a statement.
“Hama in recent days, and following a visit by U.N. observers, witnessed a series of crimes… that left more than 100 people dead and hundreds wounded because of heavy shelling.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said regime shelling of a working-class district of Hama killed at least 12 people on Wednesday, but activists on the ground put the death toll as high as 68, including 16 children.
State news agency SANA said at least 16 people were killed, including women and children, when a bomb that “terrorists” were setting up went off prematurely inside a house in the city.
At least 31 people were reportedly killed during shelling of a different neighborhood on Monday.