U.N. blames regime forcesfor latest massacre in Syria

By Elizabeth A. Kennedy and Zeina Karam

Associated Press

Published: Friday, July 13 2012 9:41 p.m. MDT

This image made from amateur video from Hama Revolution 2011 and accessed by AP video Friday, July 13, 2012 purports to show families gathered around bodies of victims killed by violence that, according to anti-regime activists, was carried out by government forces in Tremseh, Syria, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) northwest of the central city of Hama. Anti-regime activists in Syria said Friday that government gunners rained shells on a poor, farming village before armed thugs moved in, leaving scores of people dead in what rebels claim is one of the worst single days of bloodshed in the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime. (AP Photo/ Hama Revolution 2011 via AP video)

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Summary

The U.N. singled out government forces Friday for blame in the latest massacre in Syria, a frenzy of killing that raises new questions about whether diplomacy has any chance to end the crisis more than 16 months into the bloodiest revolt of the Arab Spring.

BEIRUT — The U.N. singled out government forces Friday for blame in the latest massacre in Syria, a frenzy of killing that raises new questions about whether diplomacy has any chance to end the crisis more than 16 months into the bloodiest revolt of the Arab Spring.

As the violence turns ever more chaotic, analysts warn the effort by special envoy Kofi Annan has become nothing more than a pretense, with government forces, rebels, jihadists and others fighting for power.

"Violence and escalation have outpaced political and international diplomacy," said Fawaz A. Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics.

"I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. ... All I see is more violence and more escalation, and this horrible massacre is another sign that Syria is spiraling out of control."

Scores of people were killed Thursday when Syrian gunners bombarded the impoverished village of Tremseh with tanks and helicopters in what rebels claim was among the worst single days of bloodshed in the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

The accounts of the killings and death tolls varied widely.

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