Monday, July 29, 2013

THE CONTINUED SILENCE ON THE MASSACRE AT KHAN AL-ASSAL

By yesterday afternoon not one UK media outlet had reported on the massacre of well over one hundred civilians and unarmed prisoners from the Syrian Arab Army, despite videos and media reports of such a massacre occuring.

Today there is just one report, and it is in the Financial Times, posted at 1909 hours. It doesn't condemn the massacre itself but reports the Syrian National Coalition vowing to investigate the massacre.
In its statement of condemnation, the Syrian National Coalition vowed to investigate the incident. “The Syrian coalition . . . condemn, in the strongest possible terms, infringements of the Geneva conventions and all other violations of human rights conventions,” the statement said. The Observatory said that activists reported the deaths of more than 150 regime forces as rebels took over the town of Khan Assal last week, adding that 51 of them were summarily executed. Syrian state media said that most of the dead were civilians, calling the incident a “massacre”.

The coalition said that initial reports suggested the fighters involved were not affiliated with the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella organisation for non-jihadi rebel groups headed by internationally respected defected General Selim Idriss. The al-Qaeda-linked group Jabhat al-Nusra was reported to be among the groups fighting there.

[source : Syrian opposition condemns rebel attack, FT, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/72b99f2e-f7a2-11e2-a618-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2aPqLe2qi, 28th July 2013]

And that is it.

Not even William Jihadi Hague can bring himself to condemn the massacre, but he can vent his fury at Spain instigating intensive car searches at the Gibraltar-Spanish border.

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