(Washington Post) Editorial - So far, a UN monitoring mission in Syria has had one tangible effect: It has gotten people killed. On Sunday and Monday, monitors toured neighborhoods in the city of Homs and in the Damascus suburbs of Doura and Zabadani. When they left, the areas they visited were shelled, and security forces carried out sweeps in which civilians suspected of speaking to the monitors were taken from their homes and shot or had their houses burned down. How did Mr. Annan and the UN Security Council react to these horrific reports? By urging the deployment of more monitors. Numerous Syrians have been killed every day since the supposed UN cease-fire went into effect April 1. The observers are not "changing dynamics" but providing cover and even targets for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
2012-04-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive