Syria Atrocities: International Community Paralyzed

United Nations observers in Syria say they have found 13 bodies, bound and shot, in the east of the country.

That comes just days after the massacre of about 100 people in the town of Houla.

Many of those victims were children, shot at close range, or killed with knives.

About 10 countries, including the US, have expelled Syrian diplomats in protest over the massacre.

And the UN human rights council has scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday.

There’s an urgent sense that the international community has to do something.

But there’s no consensus on what.

Marco Werman finds out what’s happening at the United Nations from Colum Lynch, UN correspondent for the Washington Post.

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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman and this is “The World”. There were more bodies in Syria today. United Nations observers said they found thirteen people bound and shot in the east of the country. That comes just days after the massacre of about a hundred people in the town of Houla. Many of them were children. Today, the deputy to special envoy Kofi Annan told the Security Council that the killings in Syria won’t end without a political negotiation between the government and the opposition. About ten countries, including the US, have expelled Syrian diplomats and protest over the massacre and the UN Human Rights Council has scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday. There’s an urgent sense that the international community has to do something, but there’s no consensus on what. Colum Lynch is UN correspondent for the Washington Post. Colum, Annan’s deputy also said today that he and Annan now doubt Assad’s commitment to the peace plan, but what are the alternatives?

Colum Lynch: Well, the Security Council met and after the briefing by Annan’s deputy the Security Council tried to explore ways that they could respond or other ways that they could apply more pressure on the government or other ways that they can strengthen the capacity of the UN monitors. And then, you know, by the end of the conversation it was becoming quite clear that any steps to increase pressure on the regime were not going to get very far in the Council. There was opposition to sanctions, the Russians in particular. There was concerns about proposals from some of the western countries to adopt what they call a “Chapter VII Resolution”. Those are the kinds of resolutions that are often enforced through the threat of sanctions or even possibly military force.

Werman: Now, Kofi Annan told Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President, that his country is at the tipping point, but the violence in Syria is so much worse than say the tipping point in Benghazi in Libya last year which prompted the world to intervene in that country. France has called again for military intervention is Syria. Russia is still holding out. How can the rest of the international community open up some distance between Bashar al-Assad and Moscow?

Lynch: Well, I think that they’re trying to use the Houla massacre as a vehicle for doing that. I mean you have seen the Russians, you know, acknowledging, and I think they’re largely doing this because of the fact that there are monitors on the ground, but acknowledging that the government bears the greatest responsibility for what happened there. But they have also tried to sort of convey this kind of lack of clarity about events on the ground. So there is still an effort by the Russians to provide some political cover for the Syrians and also to sort of convey this narrative that this is a really messy situation. It’s not just the Syrian government, that there are armed opposition people on side that are equally responsible for what’s going there, but it seems that the sort of initial reporting for the UN shows a fairly clear picture that it was government militia that bore the greatest responsibility for this awful massacre.

Werman: Humanitarian intervention in Syria is being very softly peddled right now, but today, US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, warned the Security Council that the most probable scenario in Syria was a further escalation of the conflict with it spreading to other countries in the region. Would that warning possibly provide for some kind of military intervention to prevent that from happening?

Lynch: Well, I think that there’s not a clear scenario, as you saw, or a willingness as you saw in Libya to intervene militarily, particularly by countries that have the wherewithal to do it. So that’s kind of on the agenda. I mean the United States is talking about ratcheting up pressure, possible sanctions, but, you know, they acknowledge and Susan Rice acknowledged that that Council is still deeply divided. It’s not clear that they can cobble together enough of a majority and overcome a Russian veto in the Council to significantly step up pressure on the government.

Werman: It kind of feels like there’s not much outrage. And when you see the pictures and videos of the dead children in Houla last Friday, I mean it’s just horrific. What is the tone and temper at the UN right now? I mean have diplomats seen these pictures and videos?

Lynch: Well, they have and everybody, you know, is using the language of they’re appalled, they’re outraged. I mean I think what’s notable is that, you know, if you go back a few months before the Annan plan started, all these kind of European and, you know, western capitals, the United States, they were all talking about the need to overthrow, not to overthrow, but to drive President Assad from power, and I think that most western governments have basically hid behind the UN mediation, Kofi Annan’s mediation, as a way of not having to address the very difficult decisions about what to do.

Werman: There has been new talk of a Yemen option like the deal which led to the departure of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the dictator of Yemen, earlier this year. A deal promising immunity and safe haven for the regime’s leaders in exchange for relinquishing power. Is that realistic? And who’s actually pushing that idea?

Lynch: I don’t think it’s realistic and I don’t think that, you know, the Syrians have shown any inclination or interest in doing this. I mean I think that, you know, for Assad and, you know, the kind of elite group, the Alawites, around him, I think that they see this as a kind of, you know, an existential threat. You know, maybe Assad could leave and he would have immunity, but there’s a big, you know, population of people who probably wouldn’t. They seem to be sending no signs that they’re willing to go, and quite the opposite. I get the sense that President Assad, you know, is fairly confident that he’s going to be able to survive this.

Werman: Colum Lynch, UN correspondent for the Washington Post. Thanks for joining us.

Lynch: Thanks for having me, Marco.

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