Netanyahu, Barak condemn carnage in Houla

PM, defense minister issue statements urging international community to stop Assad's brutality against civilians

Attila Somfalvi|Published: 05.27.12 , 23:30

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued statements Sunday expressing their shock over the massacre in Houla over the weekend.

Both said they were appalled by the Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops' carnage of civilians and urged the international community to interfere.

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At least 116 people, including dozens of children, were killed and over 300 were wounded in the shelling on Houla, which is in the Homs province.

Netanyahu claimed in his statement that Iran and Hezbollah were linked to the massacre in Syria and expressed his "disgust over the relentless killing of innocent civilians by Assad's forces.

"Iran and Hezbollah are an inseparable part of the Syrian carnage and the world must act against them as well."

Barak urged the West to act immediately to put an end to the violence in Syria: "The massacre of men, women and children over the weekend by the Assad regime, the murders that have been taking place in Syria for the past year, mandate global action," he said.

"The images of children, torn to pieces, are enough to horrify any human being. Assad's regime is perpetrating barbaric crimes with the backing of Iran and Hezbollah, and the world must stop it."

Barak added that the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Syria "is another opportunity to see the pattern behavior by some of our neighbors. It explains why we need a strong military that is ever-vigilance in Israel's defense."

The UN Security Council met Sunday for an emergency session on the situation in Syria.

Britain and France had proposed issuing a press statement condemning the massacre, but Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Alexander Pankin told reporters Moscow was skeptical about suggestions that the Syrian government was behind the massacre, saying it appeared most of the victims were killed with knives or shot at point-blank range.