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June 4, 2012

Denying Responsibility, Assad Calls Houla Massacre "Abominable" 
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has rejected responsibility for the
recent massacre of 108 people in Houla and blamed outside forces for the
ongoing violence inside his country. In a lengthy address to Syrian
lawmakers on Sunday, Assad called the Houla killings "abominable" and
said not even monsters could have carried them out. Assad also cast the
crisis in Syria as a foreign conspiracy, calling it "an external war
carried out by internal elements." Assad's comments come as
international envoy Koffi Annan continues to warn of an all-out civil
war in Syria amid renewed calls for the implementation of his ceasefire
plan. Speaking at a news conference in Stockholm, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said the United States wants Russia to stop backing the
Assad regime.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: "We all have to intensify our
efforts to achieve a political transition and Russia has to be at the
table helping that to occur. The Syrian people want and deserve change
and that should, and so far as possible, come about through peaceful
means and it must be a change that represents the rights and dignity of
all Syrians. Assad's departure does not have to be a precondition, but
it should be an outcome, so that the people of Syria have a chance to
express themselves."

 

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