Syrian Civil War 2011-2012 - Societa italiana di storia militare

military council, said regime opponents had lost all faith in the UN Security Council, on which Damascus has Russia as a powerful
backer (see also Russia–Syria relations). [98] 65 people were killed by the Syrian army across the country, including 25 in Homs. [99]
27 May The Syrian army engaged in heavy artillery shelling in Hama and the Damascus suburbs, killing at least 30 according to LCC
. [100] 51 people were killed by the Syrian army by the end of the day. [101]
28 May The Syrian army killed 28 people by the late afternoon, including 9 in Hama. [102] At the same time, the conflict has started
moving into the two largest cities (Damascus and Aleppo) that the government claimed was being dominated by the silent majority,
which wanted stability, not government change. In both places there has been a revival of the protest movement in its peaceful
dimension. Shopkeepers across the capital staged a general strike and in several Aleppo commercial districts mounted a similar but
smaller protest. This has been interpreted by some as indicating that the historical alliance between the government and the business
establishment in the large cities has become weak. [103]
29 May Another mass execution was discovered near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor. The unidentified corpses of 13 men had been
discovered shot to death execution-style. [104] This incident raised awareness that the violence in Syria was heading towards an
inexorable vicious cycle of tit-for-tat attacks between the different parties involved. [105] According to the opposition, the 13 people
who were shot at point blank range and later found in a field were employees at the electricity company in Deir Ezzor, who went on
strike in protest of the massacres committed by the Syrian regime. They all had their hands tied behind their backs and were shot in
the head according to a UN report. The head of a UN observer mission in Syria was “deeply disturbed” by the killings in Deir Ezzor,
calling it an “appalling and inexcusable act.” [106] Several days later, the dead were identified to be military and the opposition than
claimed they were army defectors killed by government forces. However, on 5 June, the jihadist group the Al-Nusra Front to Protect
the Levant claimed responsibility for the killings, stating that they had captured and interrogated the soldiers in Deir al-Zor and
"justly" punished them with death, after they confessed to crimes. [107]
30 May Early in the day 46 people were killed by the Syrian army, including 10 in Douma, Damascus. [108] The Free Syrian Army
announced that they were giving president Bashar al-Assad a 48-hour deadline to abide by an international peace plan to end violence.
"It ends on Friday at 1200 (0900 GMT) then we are free from any commitment and we will defend and protect the militants, their
villages and their cities.", the FSA spokesperson is quoted saying. [109] Syria’s Consul General Hazem Chehabi of the Syrian American
Council defected in California. He said that the Houla Massacre had been a tipping point and he could no longer support the "barbaric
Syrian regime". [110] Meanwhile, Syrian Army forces attacked Tadlu, Houla, the site of the Houla massacre days before. Machinegun
fire was followed by shelling, forcing villagers to flee heavy shelling in fear of more carnage. [111]
31 May 61 people were killed by the Syrian army, including 29 in Homs. [112] An army sniper killed a boy in Taldou, Houla, where the
Houla massacre took place. "Frightened residents of the area fled" for nearby towns, according to SOHR. [113]