‘Seven killed’ at pro-Assad TV station in Syria

The attack, at al-Ikhbariya TV in Drusha, 14 miles from the capital, followed the publication of a UN report saying that Syrian pro-government forces may have carried out a massacre in Houla in which 108 people died.

The Geneva-based UN Security Council council had asked its human rights commission to find out who carried out last month’s killings in Houla.

The report by UN-appointed human rights experts says the military or pro-government shabiha forces had better access to the Houla village during the May massacre.

The village leans toward opposition support and most of the victims were women and children who were slaughtered in their homes, it said.

The head of the expert team, Brazilian professor and diplomat Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, told the UN’s top human rights body in Geneva that “the manner in which these killings took place resembles those previously and repeatedly documented to have been committed by the government” but that a final verdict on who was responsible for the massacre would require further investigation by his team.

‘Shabbihah responsible’

Alex Thomson, Channel 4 News Chief Correspondent, was one of the first journalists in Houla following the massacre. Writing in his blog, he said:

“We spoke to numerous people in al-Houla in different locations, independently of each other. Their unanimous view was that pro-government shabbihah were principally the people who did the killing.

“We visited the mass graves where those who died are buried – mostly women and children. We also located a number of bodies undiscovered in the suburb where the massacre happened.

“The town remains relatively populated with shops open and functioning. In the massacre area there was very few people to be seen at all and the shops were shut. There was intermittent fighting in this area.

“What seemed interesting to me is why people would remain in the anti-government area of the town if that’s where the killers were? The possibility that they’d targeted pro-regime families might explain this however.”

“But equally in the Alawite villages close to Sunni al-Houla we found no sign of shabbiha. We were welcomed when we arrived unannounced and explained why we were there, who we were looking for.”

Winning ‘the war’

Speaking to his new cabinet on Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that all efforts had to be directed towards winning the war.

Meanwhile, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, risked an escalating confrontation as he condemned Syria for the “heinous act” of shooting down a Turkish F-4 Phantom last Friday.

This incident deepened antagonism between the two neighbours, sharing a 500-mile border, who have been bitter foes since the onset of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

“We live in a real state of war from all angles,” President Assad told members of the cabinet who were sworn in on Tuesday.

“When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war.”

He criticised countries that have been calling for him to stand down, saying that the West “takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage”.

He added: “We want good relations with all countries but we must know where our interests lie.”

Kofi Annan, the international envoy to Syria, is trying to organise a peace conference for Saturday which would include the Security Council and regional countries, notably Iran.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, indicated that he would attend and stated Iran’s participation was crucial to the success of a meeting, but Britain and America publicly oppose Tehran’s involvement.