The UN-backed peace plan for Syria was in disarray yesterday after armed rebels said they would no longer abide by a ceasefire and a local network of protesters demanded the departure of UN observers.
The calls came in reaction to Friday’s massacre in Houla near the city of Homs, which left more than 90 people dead, including 32 children. It was one of the worst atrocities in the campaign to crush a 14-month revolt against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The carnage raised fears of a cycle of sectarian killings if the mostly Sunni Muslim rebels take revenge on villages near Houla inhabited by Alawites, the minority sect to which the Assad regime belongs.