Clinton ‘Outraged’ at Syria Massacre, Slams UN for Not Imposing Regime Change

Warns Syria Cannot Be Peaceful Until Assad Ousted

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed official “outrage” today at the reports of a massacre in the Syrian village of Tremseh, which rebels claimed yesterday killed over 250 people and involved a pro-regime militia conducting mass executions.

Clinton referred to the rebel claims as “credible reports” and later “indisputable evidence” that Bashar Assad was to blame for the deaths, slamming the UN Security Council for not having forced a regime change yet.

The UN statement also blamed the Assad regime for the killings, though locals have changed the story a few times since Thursday night, and are now saying 103 people were killed, not “over 250” and insisted they were all killed by artillery, not militias.

Clinton insisted that history would “judge the Security Council” if it didn’t immediately accept Western proposals for regime change, French President Francois Hollande also slammed Russia and China for opposing their resolutions against Assad, saying that it was “damaging their interests.”

What happened in Tremseh, is, as always, a matter of intense speculation, as no independent media is on the ground and UN observers, which had previously thrown into doubt other rebel claims of regime massacres, don’t seem to be in the mix. The Syrian state media yesterday blamed a rebel faction for the killings.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.