On Thursday, the United Nations Press Center reported that observers were blocked from reaching the village of Mazraat al-Qubeir where government troops and militiamen reportedly killed 78 villagers.
The United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) was unable to establish any facts regarding the incident, which Syria's Bashar al-Assad is attributing to terrorist activities.
Here's a look at how the world is reacting to the latest reports of genocide in Syria.
U.N. explores new options: Major-General Robert Mood, in charge of UNSMIS, issued a statement indicating that his team was obstructed on three counts, including checkpoints, patrols, and by threats to the mission.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters on Thursday that at the request of the Security Council he would put together a number of options for resolving the Syrian crisis. He emphasized that "bolder action" was needed, along with a transition that "meets the aspirations of the Syrian people."
China defends position: China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, have blocked stronger actions at that level, including intervention. In a press conference on Thursday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Liu Weimin said that the country is "resolutely opposed" to any external military intervention and encouraged the implementation of U.N. envoy Kofi Annan's six-point proposal.
Western countries call Annan Plan "failed": British Foreign Secretary William Hague hesitated to call the Annan plan dead, but did say on Thursday that the Annan Plan has "clearly failed so far." He pointed the finger squarely at Russia for not using leverage on the Syrian regime, Russia's close ally, a position backed by U.S. State Department Spokesman Mark C. Toner during a Thursday press briefing.
Hague contrasted the issue of Syria to Bosnia by saying that the country is "clearly on the edge as I was saying last week of, of deeper violence, of deep sectarian violence; village against village, pro Government militias against opposition areas and of looking more like Bosnia in the 1990s than of Libya last year."
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr issued a joint press release on Friday, calling the Qubayr massacre a "barbaric act" and said the Syrian government had no credibility. Australia noted that it would increase humanitarian aid to an estimated 80,000 Syrian refugees.
Shawn Humphrey is a former contributor to The Flint Journal and an amateur Africanist, focusing his personal studies on human rights and political issues on the continent.
