US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's appeal created the conditions for a new diplomatic blockade over Syria, as Russia and China said they were strongly opposed to intervention and regime change in that country.
If reports of the death toll in Syria's central Hami province are confirmed, the carnage will be among the worst since the uprising against the Assad regime began 15 months ago.
"In the village of Al-Kubeir, 100 people were killed, among them 20 women and 20 children," said the spokesman of the opposition Syrian National Council, Muhammad Sermini, accusing the regime of being behind the "massacre."
It was also confirmed from other sources that there was a mass killing in the same area. Among them is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which claims that 87 people were killed.
The Syrian government denied responsibility for the massacre in a televised statement, AFP reported.
"What several media reported about the events in Al-Kubeir is absolutely false. A terrorist group committed a terrible crime in the Hama region in which nine people died. Media reports contribute to the shedding of Syrian blood," the statement said.
The Syrian National Council appealed for the intensification of military attacks on Assad's forces due to the casualties in Hama, Reuters reported.
In an unusual call for direct military action, the council said the rebel Free Syrian Army should intensify action on the battlefield to reduce pressure on civilians who are under siege, shelling and attacks in Hama, Latakia and Homs provinces.
The special envoy of the UN and the Arab League for Syria, Kofi Annan, will propose today the formation of an international (contact) group that would put pressure on Assad to start negotiations with the opposition on ending the months-long crisis in the country.
The Russian army is preparing for Syria
The Ministry of Defense of Russia is reportedly developing a new plan for the operation of the Russian army outside the territory of the country, and one of the countries where it is possible to expect the action of Russian troops is Syria.
The details of the plan are being coordinated at the joint headquarters of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the regional anti-terrorist structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the "Nezavisimaja Gazeta" daily claimed, citing unnamed sources in the military.
The newspaper states that the unofficial confirmation of these claims is the statement of the general secretary of the OUKB, Nikolaj Borđuža, who announced the possibility of the OUKB's peacekeeping forces participating in the resolution of the Syrian crisis.
The intensive preparations of the Russian troops for possible operations are allegedly evidenced by the special training program for airborne troops, special intelligence forces, ground forces, naval infantry and the navy.
An anonymous source from the Ministry of Defense said that the operation of Russian troops outside the country, including Syria, requires a political solution from the state leadership, as well as a corresponding UN resolution.
Borđuža's statement that "it seems necessary to carry out an operation in Syria in order to restore peace", as well as that there is a fight with heavy weapons on both sides, led him to the conclusion that "the peacekeeping forces there would fall into hell".
Regular exercise of the Russian 76th landing unit
As confirmation that such a scenario is being seriously considered, the newspaper states that a few days ago the army conducted an inspection of the Pskov 76th Airborne Assault Division, which is considered one of the most important combat units in the Russian armed forces. This unit participated in the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo in 1999, in the war in Chechnya from 1994 and in the war in Georgia in 2008, and in 2004 it became the first unit of the Russian army with a completely professional composition.
According to sources from the army, special units in which Chechens with experience in peacekeeping missions in Lebanon from 2006 to 2007 serve could participate in eventual operations outside the territory of Russia.
For possible actions in Syria, the special forces of the special brigade of marines of the Black Sea Fleet are said to have already been trained, and they visited the Syrian port of Tartus, the only port in the Mediterranean where the Russian Navy has access, on the ship "Smetlivi" this spring.
UN observers denied access to massacre site in Syria
United Nations observers in Syria were prevented today by military barricades from going to the town of Al-Kubeir, where more than a dozen civilians were killed the previous night, said the head of the mission, General Robert Mudd.
"The observers could not reach the village yet. Their mission was prevented by being stopped at the barricade of the Syrian army and in some cases they were roughly pushed back," General Mudd said in a statement.
The head of the UN mission added that some of the UN patrols were stopped by civilians in the area and told that the security of the observers would be threatened if they entered the village of Al-Kubeir.
He pointed out that despite these challenges, the observers are still trying to reach the village in order to establish on the spot what happened.
General Mudd expressed concern about "restrictions on the movement of mission members" and pointed out that this limits their capacity to "monitor, observe and report".
The UN observation mission has been in Syria since April 15 in accordance with the plan for exiting the crisis of the international envoy Kofi Annan. Her task is to oversee the implementation of the cease-fire, which is constantly being violated.
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