UN observers enter Mazraat al-Qubeir

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said that ‘some foreign players’ are provoking opposition to the Assad regime while ‘demanding the international community take decisive steps to change the regime’. He also reiterated that Russia ‘will never agree to the use of force in the UN Security Council’, which would seem to impede Lord Owen’s plan that the West, led by the Turkish military, can intervene in Syria with Russia’s blessing.

Meanwhile, UN observers recently entered Mazraat al-Quberir, scene of an alleged massacre of villagers. Journalists accompanying the observers report that there is evidence of killing (remnants of burnt flesh and bloodied clothing), but any bodies have been removed. There are further accounts (£) of Syrian troops operating in neighbouring Lebanon, hunting those Lebanese who are assisting Syrian refugees and fighters. The UN can do little but warn that Syria is poised to descend into chaotic violence.