UN's Syria monitors sift through debris of al-Qubair attack

Scenes of burned-out houses and charred human remains in village where up to 78 people were reportedly killed in cold blood

Ian Black, Middle East editor
guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 June 2012

"UN monitors on Friday entered for the first time the Syrian village where up to 78 people were reportedly killed in cold blood on Wednesday, the latest in a series of atrocities that have underlined the gravity of the escalating crisis.

The observers were met with scenes of burned-out houses, charred human remains and the clear impression that a "terrible crime" had occurred in Mazraat al-Qubair near Hama, according to a BBC correspondent following the UN team. On Thursday the monitors were fired at and their access blocked by Syrian forces.

"It is not hard to verify. As soon as you walk into the first house, you are hit by the stench of burnt flesh," reported Paul Danahar. "You can see that a terrible crime has taken place. Everything has been burnt, houses have been gutted. The most distressing scenes were at the house next door. I walked in and saw brains lying on the floor. There was a tablecloth covered in blood and flesh and someone had tried to mop the blood up by pushing it into the corner, but it seems they had given up because there was so much of it around."

In a video clip posted on the internet, a Syrian woman named Lathat calmly described how the hamlet had been attacked by "regime forces and Shabiha" (government militia) who killed children, including two of her daughters, with knives and axes. "The army came with the Shabiha with a tank," she said. "May God take revenge on Bashar al-Assad.".........