Turkey and Japan expelled Syrian diplomats yesterday, joining the US and several other nations in protesting a weekend massacre of more than 100 people in Syria, including women and children.
The move came as Syrian forces bombarded rebel-held areas in the same province where the Houla killings occurred, although no casualties were immediately reported, activists said.
Survivors blamed pro-regime gunmen for at least some of the carnage in Houla as the killings reverberated inside Syria and beyond, further isolating Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and embarrassing his few remaining allies.
Photo: Reuters
The Syrian government denied its troops were behind the killings and blamed “armed terrorists.”
The UN’s top human rights body planned to hold a special session tomorrow to address the massacre.
Damascus had said it would conclude its own investigation into the Houla deaths by yesterday, but it was not clear if the findings would be made public.
Syria’s state-run media yesterday denounced the diplomatic expulsions, which began on Tuesday with announcements by the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Bulgaria, as “unprecedented hysteria.”
Turkey, Syria’s neighbor and a former close ally, joined the coordinated protest yesterday. Turkey has been among the most outspoken critics of the al-Assad regime. It closed its embassy in Damascus in March and withdrew the ambassador. Its consulate in Aleppo remains open.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it ordered the Syrian charge d’affaires and other diplomats at the Syrian embassy in Ankara to leave the country within 72 hours. The consulate in Istanbul will remain open for consular duties only.
The Foreign Ministry said it also yesterday reduced the number of its personnel in the consulate in Aleppo, Syria.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said new unspecified sanctions might be imposed against Syria in the coming days.
The world “cannot remain silent in the face of such a situation,” he said.
Japan also ordered the Syrian ambassador in Tokyo to leave the country because of concerns about violence against civilians. However, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Koichiro Genba said his country was not breaking off diplomatic ties with Syria.
Syria’s ally, Russia, criticized the diplomatic moves.
“The banishment of Syrian ambassadors from the capitals of leading Western states seems to us to be a counterproductive step,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
He said the move closes “important channels” to influence Syria.
UN special envoy Kofi Annan met with al-Assad on Tuesday in Damascus to try to salvage what was left of his peace plan, which since being brokered six weeks ago has failed to stop any of the violence on the ground.
The Al-Baath daily, the mouthpiece of Assad’s Baath Party, said Syria will not be intimidated by such “violent rhythms” and would remain standing in front of such “ugly, bloody and dramatic shows.”
It added that “Syria will not tremble as they think.”
The government’s Al-Thawra newspaper also blasted the Western decision, calling it an “escalation that aims to besiege al-Annan’s plan and enflame a civil war.”
Tensions have escalated as more information emerges about the killings in Houla on Friday last week.
UN peacekeeping boss Herve Ladsous said there are strong suspicions that pro-Assad fighters were responsible for some of the killings, casting doubt on allegations that “third elements” — or outside forces — were involved, although he did not rule it out.
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