As the UN Security Council nears final formulation of a resolution to condemn Syria, more reports of Syrian government cruelty are heard from refugees in Turkey.
Dozens of Syrian refugees have arrived in Turkey over the past few days, telling of the savage tactics employed by President Bashar Assad's forces. One said that he and his neighbors were in the midst of burying their dead when soldiers began shooting at them from several directions. Fire was also directed at their streets from the air. Witnesses said they saw "corpses" all around them.
Syria has been gripped by nearly three months of brutal government response to anti-government protests.
Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan said his country's doors to Syrian refugees will remain open "at this point."
This evening (Wednesday), the Security Council of the UN is to consider a condemnation of Syria. The current draft appears to be too strongly worded for Russia's tastes, however, and the diplomats are working on finding an agreed-upon formulation. Any one of the five permanent Security Council members – U.S., Russia, Great Britain, France and China – can veto a Security Council resolution.
"Britain has circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution condemning the repression in Syria," Foreign Secretary William Hague told the House of Commons on Tuesday. He said the draft calls "for the Syrian Government to meet their people's legitimate demands, release all prisoners of conscience, lift restrictions on the media and Internet and co-operate with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights."