Houla massacre

The Houla massacre (Arabic: مجزرة الحولة‎) was an attack that took place on May 25, 2012, in the midst of the Syrian civil war, in two opposition-controlled villages in the Houla Region of Syria, a cluster of villages north of Homs. According to the United Nations, 108 people were killed, including 34 women and 49 children. While a small proportion of the deaths appeared to have resulted from artillery and tank rounds used against the villages, the U.N. later announced that most of the massacre's victims had been "summarily executed in two separate incidents".^[5] UN investigators have reported that witnesses and survivors stated that the massacre was committed by pro-government Shabiha.^[4] In August 2012 UN investigators released a report which stated that it was likely that Syrian troops and Shabiha militia were responsible for the massacre, concluding that: "On the basis of available evidence, the commission has a reasonable basis to believe that the perpetrators of the deliberate killing of civilians, at both the Abdulrazzak and Al-Sayed family locations, were aligned to the Government. It rests this conclusion on its understanding of access to the crime sites, the loyalties of the victims, the security layout in the area including the position of the government’s water authority checkpoint and the consistent testimonies of victims and witnesses with direct knowledge of the events. This conclusion is bolstered by the lack of credible information supporting other possibilities."^[6]

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houla massacre