(EMIRATES247, REUTERS) 13 bodies found, hands tied, in Syria

COMMENT - The old joke about Iraq was that "Death Squad Johnny" John Negroponte (ambassador to Honduras, Iraq) would show up, and people start to be found in the street with their hands tied behind their backs and a bullet hole in the back of their heads.

His protege general Petraeus becomes head of the CIA under President Obama, and guess what, the same is happening in Syria. Where in Syria were these massacres in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990 or 2000s?

13 bodies found, hands tied, in Syria
UN rights body to quiz Damascus over Houla massacre
By Reuters
Published Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Lebanese anti-Syrian regime protesters and supporters of Islamic groups carry mock children’s dead bodies and chant slogans as they walk in front a Syrian revolutionary and Lebanese flag during a protest against the massacre of Houla, in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, on Wednesday May 30. (AP)

The head of U.N. observers in Syria, Major-General Robert Mood, said on Wednesday 13 bodies had been discovered in the east of the country, with their hands tied behind their backs and signs that some had been shot in the head from close range.

"General Mood is deeply disturbed by this appalling and inexcusable act," a statement issued by the observer mission said. "He calls on all parties to exercise restraint and end the cycle of violence for the sake of Syria and the Syrian people."

Meanwhile, the U.N. Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Syria in Geneva on Friday to probe last week's massacre of more than 100 people in the town of Houla, diplomats involved in planning the meeting in Geneva said on Wednesday.

The United States, Qatar, Turkey and the European Union led the push for the emergency debate, the U.N. rights body's fourth special session on Syria since unrest broke out in the country early last year.

Scheduling the debate, which has not yet been officially announced, requires signatures of 16 countries that are members of the Human Rights Council.

"It's all materialising very quickly," said one official. "It's going to have huge support."

Some members plan to draft a text that is likely to condemn Friday's Houla massacre, in which at least 108 people were killed, and demand further investigation.

The massacre, a clear breach of a ceasefire deal brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, has already prompted at least seven Western nations to expel Syria's envoys from their capitals.

The European Union is likely to press the Human Rights Council to recommend the U.N. Security Council refer the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"It should be a strong, robust resolution because what has happened is just intolerable," one EU diplomat said.

China and Russia, which have the power to veto any U.N. sanctions against Syria, have refused to blame forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the Houla killings, so the widespread outrage is unlikely to translate into tough action on the Syrian government.

In the Human Rights Council's last debate on Syria, 41 of the 47 members backed a resolution criticising Syria. Only Russia, China and Cuba voted against.

One month earlier, Syria's ambassador stormed out of the Council during an emergency debate on Syria, blaming foreign countries for inciting sectarianism and providing arms to the opposition in Syria.