U.N. monitors shot at near site of mass killings

By EDITH M. LEDERER and ZEINA KARAM

Associated Press

BEIRUT — U.N. observers came under fire Thursday as they tried to reach the site of the latest reported mass killing in Syria — about 80 people, including women and children who were shot or stabbed. The deaths added urgency to diplomatic efforts to end the escalating bloodshed.

As reports emerged of what would be the fourth such mass slaying of civilians in Syria in the last two weeks, the United States condemned President Bashar Assad, saying he has “doubled down on his brutality and duplicity.”

International envoy Kofi Annan, whose peace plan brokered in April has not been implemented, warned against allowing “mass killings to become part of everyday reality in Syria.”

“If things do not change, the future is likely to be one of brutal repression, massacres, sectarian violence, and even all-out civil war,” Annan told the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “All Syrians will lose.”

U.N. diplomats said Annan was proposing that world powers and key regional players, including Iran, come up with a new strategy to end the 15-month conflict at a closed meeting of the Security Council that took place Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Annan highlighted the urgency of taking action to diffuse the situation.

Standing alongside Annan and League of Arab States Secretary General Nabil Elaraby, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed the sense of urgency.

“The three of us agree: Syria can quickly go from a tipping point to a breaking point. The danger of full-scale civil war is imminent and real, with catastrophic consequences for Syria and the region,” Ban warned.

Any proposal to resolve the situation, however, must be acceptable to Russia and China, which have protected their ally from past U.N. sanctions, as well as the U.S. and its European allies, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because consultations have been private.