DAMASCUS, Syria. - United Nations monitors were attacked while trying to enter site of recent massacre. Reports suggest that UN monitors were prevented from entering the village of Quabair, where a recent incident of mass killing had occurred. The international cease-fire monitors were shot at. Although no monitors were hurt, the massacre left at least 78 civilians dead.
In an address to the General Assembly at the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, called the incident "shocking and sickening," as reported by BBC News.
According to the New York Times, attacks on the monitors were perpetrated by government forces, Syria's UN Ambassador, however, told BBC News that no government officials were involved.
U.N. envoy, Kofi Annan's peace plan is currently in place in Syria, however an increasing number of violent incidences have prompted some countries to question its viability and has them talking about a possible international intervention to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.
In an address to the General Assembly of the United Nations today, ban Ki-moon mentioned that President al-Assad had lost legitimacy.
Kofi Annan says that although his plan has been accepted by Syria, it is not yet implemented. Annan told BBC News that "individual action and interventions will not resolve the crisis."
The attacks come just days after the Houla massacre, in which over 108 people were killed, allegedly by government forces.
Currently there are around 297 UN monitors in Syria substantiating the implementation of Annan's peace plan. The monitors are all unarmed. The UN has ordered the monitors to temporaryly pull out of Quabair.
