UN To Return To Battered Syrian Village

UN observers are preparing to return to a Syrian village to continue their investigations after confirming the community there was attacked with artillery, mortars and small arms.

Following a visit to Tremseh in Hama province, the monitors said the assault mainly targeted rebels and opposition activists but added they could not confirm the number of dead and injured.

Opposition activists claim up to 200 people were killed on Thursday in the attack by President Bashar al Assad's troops, backed by a pro-regime militia known as shabiha.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abdel Rahman, said he believed it "might be the biggest massacre committed in Syria since the start of the revolution" in March 2011.

The UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) said heavy weapons were used and homes burned, but stopped short of specifying who carried out the violence.

It is believed there may have been a fierce fight between the army and a number of deserters, with villagers caught in the crossfire.

The Syrian army said earlier it did launch an air and ground assault on Tremseh - but claimed only "terrorists" died in the operation.

Furthermore, the Syria government has rejected claims that heavy weapons were used, but admitted security forces killed 37 fighters and two civilians in a campaign against the village, from which the regime claims rebels were launching attacks on other areas.

"Government forces did not use planes, or helicopters, or tanks or artillery. The heaviest weapon used was an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade)," said Jihad Makdissi, spokesman for Syria's foreign ministry.

The UN observers' journey to the village comes even though the UNSMIS remains officially suspended after monitors repeatedly came under fire.

The UN Security Council also continues to debate the future of their presence in Syria, spurred by the July 20 expiration of its mandate.

Across the border in Turkey, hospitals treat injured Syrians and the country's prime minister has added his voice to the chorus of international condemnation of the Assad government.

"These vicious massacres, these attempts at genocide, these inhuman savageries are nothing but the footsteps of a regime that is on its way out," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"Sooner or later, these tyrants with blood on their hands will go and the people of Syria will in the end make them pay."

Elsewhere, amid calls on Russia to support the removal of Mr Assad from office, the Kremlin has said President Vladimir Putin will meet the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, this week.