Democracy activists in Syria told Friday that government artillerymen rained shells on a poor, agricultural village before armed thugs moved in, leaving dozens of people dead in what rebels claim could be one of the worst single days of bloodshed in the arising against Bashar Assad’s regime.
Witnesses tell the Sunni Muslim settlement, bordered by farming area near the Orontes River, was first blasted then occupied by pro-government Alawite militiamen who swept in and ‘faithlessly slaughtered’ victims one by one. Some civilians were killed while trying to flee, locals state.
The accounts – some of which arrogate more than two hundred people were killed in the ferocity Thursday — could not be severally affirmed, but would mark the latest in a string of brutal offensives by Syrian forces trying to beat the rebellion. The head of the United Nations monitoring mission in separated government forces forces for blame, telling they assaulted from the air and ground in “uninterrupted ferocity.” Nevertheless much remains unclear about what occurred in Tremseh in central Syria such as what actuated the attack or whether the whole dead are civilians. Also questions remains about why Assad’s military personnel made a motion against the isolated village. One activist group told dozens of the dead were rebel fighters. Amateur video recordings displayed the bodies of seventeen people said to have been killed. Local activists, who gave the high death toll, could not supply lists of names, telling they were still being piled up.
